Collision Course
by crazygal4lyf
Summary: Abandoned! See my profile for details. A spell gone wrong sends the Marauders forward in time, and the threads of destiny start to intertwine when time goes onto a Collision Course. Full summary inside.
1. Chapter 1

Summary:

"We- we did it? We travelled forward in time? By..." James quickly added it up in his head "20 years?"  
"Prongs... think about it. It's not possible for our future selves to be here if we left the past. We never got a chance to grow up, remember?" Remus said quietly.

A spell gone wrong sends the Marauders forward in time, and the threads of destiny start to intertwine when time goes onto a Collision Course.

I used a slightly edited version of this plot on a forum a while ago, but it died. I thought that it shouldn't go to waste.

A/N: Hi, everyone! This is my first fanfic, so constructive criticism is much appreciated. This chapter may be familiar to a few of you, as it was the plot on an old forum of mine, which went by the same name. I didn't want it to go to waste, and the forum is too dead to revive, so I thought I'd write the rest myself! I'll let you read it for yourself  
Suzi

Chapter 1

James gave a sigh of boredom and ran a hand through his messy, raven-black hair, glancing around the Common Room, which was beginning to feel like a tub of sardines. Who would have ever thought that a day in Hogwarts could be boring, especially in the shoes of a Marauder? The Head-Boy and Quidditch Captain who had been copped up in those size 10s all day, of course. "Don't you guys have any ideas of stuff we can do?" He asked in an exasperated tone.

A thoughtful look replaced the previously bored one on Sirius's face. Winking charismatically at a pretty Sixth-Year across the room (who practically swooned - she was a well-known member of Mr Black's fan club) he turned back to the Marauders, all of whom were rolling their eyes. "Well, there is one, and it would involve going out in this," He tilted his head at the window, gesturing the torrents of rain outside, "But if we do it right, we can spend the rest of the day flying." James looked interested and listened while Sirius explained his theory about a spell he had come across in a book: more specifically a weather reversal spell. "...So, if we just tweak it a little, we should be able to fast-forward the weather to when the storm is done." Sirius concluded, looking proud of himself. He had a right too, since it was rather well thought-out, in James's opinion.

"What were _you_ doing in the Library?" Peter asked, before holding his hand up, "Wait, don't tell me." He gestured over his shoulder at the girl Sirius had winked at just minutes ago. He began to laugh, and James soon joined in. Remus, however, looked a little worried.

"I dunno, Padfoot, it sounds awfully like a time spell, which have been illegal since 1754, when that guy almost caused the fall of the

_Wizarding World_, remember?"

"We are _Padfoot, Prongs and Wormtail_ ," Sirius stressed the nicknames. There were nods of approval from Peter and James, who were no longer laughing. This sounded like too interesting a plan to miss the finer points - certainly one they could reuse. "You think we care?"

Remus sighed, though there was a faint trace of a smile on his face. He loved the Marauders as much as any of his friends. "Fine, but my Latin's a little rusty. We're going to have to go to the Library, 'cause if we mess this one up, there could be horrible consequences."

The quartet spent another hour in the Library poring over Latin dictionaries, while Peter tried to divert the curious and suspicious looks they were receiving, occasionally with James or Sirius's assistance. Remus stayed where he was, however, which helped in it's own way: he was always in the library, it was just the fact that he was accompanied by his friends.

After a full hour of Sirius's, "I think I found something!", James's, "Hurry _up_, Moony!" and Peter's, "Aren't you done _yet_?", Remus emerged from the book, a triumphant look upon his face. "There we are." He placed a small piece of paper in the middle of the table, "No thanks to you lot, of course." He smirked. "Quick, memorize the words so I can get rid of it. If anyone finds out we've done this, we'll be booted out for sure."

"Sorry, Moony, we were bored." They chorused, before leaning over the piece of paper and constantly repeating the words inside their heads. It wasn't a long spell - two words merely. All Remus had done was change 'Retrorsum Tempestas' to 'Defugio Vicis'. Not hard to memorize at all. "It took you all that time to do _that_?" Sirius eyed the piece of paper as though it had done him a personal wrong. "We wasted all that time inside for you to write down two words?"

"That's not fair! I had to check it was the correct version, and sometimes to change it's tense and add a suffix... it was hard, OK?" Remus protested. "Let's just go." He snatched the piece of paper from the table and made his way out of the library, conjuring an umbrella with his wand as he went. Sirius looked a little shocked at the outburst, but quickly covered it up. He should be used to it by then, anyway, since whenever he didn't give Remus credit for hard work... well, he sometimes ended up worse off. _Sometimes ._ But no one ever found out.

They ran across the grounds, through the gales and flooded lawns - it was as though the lake was expanding and trying to steal Hogwarts into its icy depths. The umbrella was wrenched away, straight out of Remus's hands, but they had long since forgotten it in their mad swim-dash towards the Quidditch Pitch. When they reached it, they ducked into the Gryffindor Changing Rooms, which James unlocked with his key. "We should've just transformed, shouldn't we?" James shook his head vigorously, soaking everyone and everything around him. He highly doubted, however, that 'everyone' noticed, since they couldn't get much wetter themselves, anyway.

"OK, everyone know the plan, right?" Remus looked around at his nodding friends, but decided to repeat it anyway, for safety's sake. "We have to be outside, or else it'll fast-forward events forever and we'll be stuck in a continuous time warp..." He sucked in his breath; sure it was dangerous, but he'd managed to pluck up the courage to do it, and trust his friends. That was what Gryffindor was all about, right? Right? "And no, we can't just fast-forward to the next match." He cut James off before his mouth was even fully open. "It would mean missing classes and _prank opportunities_." He added the latter merely to keep his companions happy and quiet. "Anyway, it will fast forward the whole of outside -and inside, within the magical boundary, that's why we've gotta be careful. It should only stretch to the Great Hall, but everyone will be having Lunch right now, so if we make a mistake, we might hurt other people, too - 'till whenever we say 'Stop.' That's all you have to do. But it's really powerful magic, so we have to do it together, or we could get a serious case of magical exhaustion."

"You remember the words, right?" At his friend's nods, he gave a sigh of anticipation - he always got caught up in the moment, when it came - and began to walk out towards the glass door, which sounded as though it was about to shatter from the force of the rain. Bracing themselves, the Marauders ran out into the freezing torrents of rain and, on Peter's signal, all shouted "'Defugio Vicis!" They remained in their huddle, though James was sure the rain had stopped... then it hadn't... then it had... what was going on?

He looked up hesitantly and almost fell over, feeling rather dizzy. It took his eyes several minutes to get used to the flashes of weather and various scenes that went on around him... sun, rain, snow, wind, every weather condition he could possibly imagine; he saw it happening in a matter of seconds. And the scenes... people were enjoying this weather, or braving the elements to practice flying. One minute, someone was rushing towards him on a broom, and he saw the young girl's eyes widen in fear, before the world flashed again and she was gone. She would only have seen him for the briefest nano-second. She'd probably think she had been hit too hard by a bludger.

"Too fast! It's going too fast! Stop! _STOP_!" Remus yelled loudly, but to no avail. The spell had gone drastically wrong, they would probably be stuck in this horrible time apocalypse until they died, or their power ran out, or the end of time. Possibly all three - that was, could you die if you were somewhere where time didn't pass properly? Would anything ever run out or grow old? Would time even pass? None of the Marauders wanted to know the answers to these questions. "Wait... Latin! The spell had to be converted in Latin, so why not say 'Stop' in Latin?" Remus wondered around.

All of the Marauders began to think - hard. So hard that it looked almost painful. After a few minutes, of course, they looked to Remus. He was the one who had been looking through a Latin dictionary only minutes – though it felt much longer, for some reason - before... wasn't it possible that he had noticed the word 'Stop'? Seeing this, he waved them all off with a, "I'm thinking, I'm thinking!" A few minutes went by... or rather, it felt like that. For all they knew, they were decades away from where they started. "Des- what was it... desist- no, it sounded like that... desiit, that was it, DESIIT!" Remus pointed his wand - no where in particular - and the Marauders fell into a muddled heap, unconscious and - when they awoke - sure to be slightly nauseous.

_The world... it's spinning... I can't see... flashes... _James groaned as he came to. He opened his eyes too quickly, and the sudden light burned them, so he quickly snapped them shut again. As he did so, he could swear he heard a relieved sigh. He opened his eyes again as familiar voices began to buzz around him.

"Prongs! You're OK!" The Marauders were in beds near him, in what was unmistakably the Hospital Wing. Instantly, his expression was worried. Being in the school could only mean one thing.

"What happened? Did we get caught? Are we going to be expelled? Where's Dumbledore, he'll stop it, we haven't done anything." James babbled, before taking a deep breath. _One at a time, Prongs, one at a time._ "OK. What happened? I remember the spell, and stuff, but then everything's blank."

Remus answered. "I don't know, we've only just come around ourselves, but by the look of that calendar over there," He gestured to a calendar marked with many red 'X's, "It's Halloween. We've only been out for a day, so the spell must have been going much slower than we thought it was. So much for _fast_-forwarding."

Before he could continue his theories and explanations, a tall figure walked through the door. "Professor!" James jumped up as Minerva McGonagall walked through the door. There was something different about her, but James couldn't quite place it; perhaps it was the pure anger radiating off of her.

"Sit." She commanded. James obliged immediately. "I would never, in all my many years at Hogwarts, have thought of you boys as the type to break the law so seriously. I know better now... but a time spell, of all things! I hope you're proud of yourselves. Hogwarts will be closed, if people find out about this - because of you four. And for you to turn up now, of all times... what possessed you to try and time travel?"

"Professor... I don't understand-" Sirius began, but McGonagall cut him off almost immediately.

"Of course you don't! And you never will, because until I find a way to send you back, you are not to leave the Infirmary, understood!" It was not a question. She wasn't going to explain, and that was that. None of them dared answer; they had never seen her like this, not even when Sirius had come so close to killing Snape last year. McGonagall left the room in a silent rage, which terrified them all the more. As soon as he left, the four boys began to babble their question to each other.

"What does she mean, 'turn up now'?" "Try and time travel...?" "What's Dumbledore going to say?" "Why did she shout at Padfoot like that?" They all broke off when Remus stood up and made his way towards the calendar. He had been the only one up till then who realized the questions all involved time, bar the last one. As if in slow motion, he reached up and gently took it off the hook. He turned it over, where there were pictures of Hogwarts and the year of the calendar. "1997." He breathed, though everyone caught the words. There was a shocked silence.

"We- we did it? We travelled forward in time? By..." James quickly added it up in his head "21 years?" The prospect left them in a long, awkward, but excited silence. "Where do you think we'll all be now? We can go see ourselves, see how we grew up. We can get advice from our future selves about what to do... hey! Do you think anyone will remember all the NEWT questions?"

"Prongs... think about it. It's not possible for our future selves to be here if we left the past. We never got a chance to grow up, remember?" Remus said quietly. That really got them going. "Unless-" He cut them off, "We get back in the end. Oh, I hope we can speak to our future selves, just for reassurance... nothing makes sense… but if we're here, now, then how can we be here twenty years later?"

Harry Potter gripped his armchair tightly, his knuckles as white as his face had gone. "_What?_" He gazed down at Dobby, who had just delivered him some very disturbing news indeed. "Sirius? He's back? _How_? Are you _sure_? He can't be, he's _dead _..." Dobby must have made a mistake. After all, even if it _was _Sirius, why would he be in the Infirmary? And how could he just walk into the school?

"No, Harry Potter, Sir. Dobby heard another boy call him 'Padfoot', and Dobby has heard Harry Potter call him Padfoot, so Dobby came straight to Harry Potter to tell him!" Dobby looked anxious. "Has Dobby done bad, Harry Potter, Sir?"

"No, Dobby, thanks." He turned to Hermione and Ron, who were listening to the conversation and looking almost as anxious as Harry felt. "We have to go to the Infirmary. Now."


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Wow! I got 199 hits since I posted the first chapter! Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed, added me to favourites, alerts, etc. R&R, and just so you know, I try to reply to all my reviews! Thanks again, everyone, and I hope you all enjoy this chapter! Suzi

Chapter 2

Hermione and Ron ran after Harry, who was tearing down the hallways like there was no tomorrow. His expression was a mixture of apprehension, fear, excitement and confusion, among many other emotions. Everyone who they passed showed the same emotions, remembering the many times when Harry Potter had been involved in some major event; could this be the beginning of another? Even Ron and Hermione were asking themselves that.

Harry barely managed to stop in time to open the door before he ran straight into it. He heard voices on the other side, and strained to hear what they were saying, but they were too muffled for him to make out the words. He turned to his panting friends, who had just arrived beside him. There was a churning sensation in his stomach. His hand automatically reached into his pocket for his wand. He charged into the Hospital Wings, wand raised, adrenaline charging through his system. It was a familiar feeling, though he couldn't say that he liked feeling it, since every time he did it was a sure sign of a fight. But Voldemort had made a huge mistake this time; Harry must have overestimated him. This wasn't _nearly_ as sneaky as Harry had ever seen or expected of the self-proclaimed Dark Lord.

There were four teenage boys in the room, about the same age as him – three on or in beds, one standing next to the wall, holding a calendar (strange, if you asked him, but that's Death Eaters for you) – all of them looking scarily familiar.

They – they didn't look like Remus or Sirius or Pettigrew at all. They were much younger looking. Sirius wasn't as gaunt and ragged as he had been when he got out of Azkaban, but more like that handsome teenage boy Harry had seen in the Pensive. Remus – his hair wasn't grey, but there were obvious signs of stress; a permanent frown, signs of worry wrinkles that a young boy shouldn't have. Pettigrew, Harry thought, looked less ratty, deceivingly so, considering that even when he was a human he was a rat. It took all of his strength not to curse the little traitor there and then, but he needed their information. And then there was the other one… Harry couldn't even look at him. Whatever cruel person had decided to try this stupid scheme, Harry swore there and then he was going to hunt them down. Probably Snape, Harry thought fiercely.

"Merlin," James Potter breathed, as Remus moved to sit down, weary of the madman with a wand. "That wasn't part of the plan, was it, Padfoot?" He still managed to crack a joke whilst looking at what could pass off as his twin – except for a few differences. One was the eyes – emerald green instead of hazel. The other difference was an unusually shaped scar, which his eyes were automatically drawn to. It was shaped like a lightning bolt, and was the sort of feature that demanded all the attention on first sight. James, who had never heard the Harry Potter story, obviously, was staring at it by instinct, knowing there was probably a story behind it. It sent a shiver down his back.

Hermione was by his side, now, and opened her mouth to say something – probably a question, knowing her – but Harry was way ahead of her. His wand was trained on James and the stunning spell was already half out of his mouth. Yes, it was only a stunner – he couldn't bring himself to harm people who looked so much like the Marauders, even if he was certain that it wasn't them.

"Stupefy!" Harry made the huge mistake of shouting the word. Snape had never been the best teacher in the world, but he had been right when he said not to give them the split second warning; if they had been expecting an attack, they would be ready. The stunner ricocheted off of the shield which James only just managed to conjure in time. He leaped off of his bed, the air rippling slightly as the shield cut through it. Everyone else quickly conjured shields around themselves, closing in on the battle. Sirius was the first to jump in, not even attempting to be sneaky as he ran in, wand in front of him, firing stunners off at the Trio. The other Marauders soon followed.

The Trio also followed, and soon there were broken objects and stunners flying about everywhere. It was all a question of strategy. Naturally, Ron took charge of the Trio's.

"Stay together and aim for one. We can't take them all at once, but if we focus on one then we might be able to get rid of a few." Peter Pettigrew was the chosen target, being obviously scared and nervous. Because of these negative emotions, his shield was weaker than it could have been, and he only lasted about 30 seconds of the rain of stunners being shot by the Trio. He went down with a squeal.

"Him, now!" Ron instructed, pointing at Remus. Remus seemed to have picked up on the rules of the game, however, and likewise pointed at Ron.

"Do the same! They can't hold forever, either!" The rain of spells intensified until Remus and Ron stopped, concentrating on keeping their shields up.

"Prongs, Padfoot, hurry!" Remus shouted. Harry's spells became less focused on Remus. His hands were shaken. Of course, Pettigrew could have told them their nicknames, but to hear them now was hard for him. He still hadn't _quite _adjusted to Sirius not being around anymore, but he had thought he could handle this. Maybe he couldn't. He stopped firing stunners and instead conjured a big shield around himself, Ron and Hermione.

Hermione and Ron noted the shield, and that he was no longer firing. Was it a bluff or something? They stopped too, giving Harry a quizzical look. Harry just shook his head.

"Why are they only using stunners?" Hermione whispered to Ron out of the side of her mouth.

"I dunno… maybe they need him alive, or something?"

"But that's not Voldemort's style. He would've planned it all out carefully and then used someone as bait – you know, like the Ginny in the Chamber, and Sirius in the Ministry, and the Triwizard Cup was a sort of bait, too. It's just not right."

"Well then, maybe the Death Eaters messed up and are scared that You-Know-Who's going to punish him, which _is_ their style. Actually, it happens every time." He pointed out. "If it hadn't, Harry wouldn't be standing next to us."

"Something's still not right. They know we know who they are, and after that they don't usually bother with disguises and fake names and stuff. I'm not sure they _are _Death Eaters. Not that they're not still dangerous!" She added hastily as Ron gave her a disbelieving look. "I'm just saying we should get our story straight."

They turned to Harry, who they knew had been listening to the conversation. He nodded in agreement with Hermione, swallowing hard. Obviously – well, to Hermione it was obvious – something had upset him. She as actually surprised he had lasted this long; she couldn't have fired at anyone who looked like her friends or family. She'd actually been holding back quite a lot when they were firing spells at Remus.

"Fine. Talk to them. You're good at talking to people." He said, taking into consideration that they had just knocked one of their friends out cold. He felt bad telling Hermione to talk to them, but he and Ron just weren't talkers.

The Marauders had used their time wisely, also having a hushed conversation under the cover of a large shield.

"They got Pete!"

"What've we done?"

"What's going on?!"

"Shut up, both of you!" This was Remus; the voice of reason. "Something _very_ strange is going on here. Apart from that one looking very much like Prongs, they kind of… eased up a little when they started firing at me. I know my shields are supposed to be good, but those spells weren't half as strong as what they were firing at Wormtail. Unless they've been in a huge duel lately – bigger than we've ever been – and they were tired out, then it must have been deliberate. But why? I mean, it's not like he's any less dangerous than us… unless they know us…"

When he was trying to figure something out, it was like he was talking to himself, especially when it was something as complex as this. He had been trying to put off the possibility that they were standing opposite one of James' relatives, but they were too alike not to be related.

And it was then that a fuming McGonagall entered the room. She looked surprised at the three people in front of them, then narrowed her eyes. Her lips were thin again – a sure sign of bad things to come.

"Back in bed, all of you!" She barked at the Marauders. They obeyed immediately, but still kept their wands in their hands, just in case. For all they knew, the three in front of him could turn on them again at any minute. What did it matter if there was a teacher present? "Weasley, Granger, lower your wands." She told Hermione and Ron. "Potter, a word."

Both Harry and James started towards the stern woman, then stopped, glaring at each other. "Oh no," She sighed, "I can already see this is going to be a long day. Come on, then, both of you." All three of them made their way out of the doors, both Potters hesitating and keeping well away from each other.

Sirius and Remus stared at the other two awkwardly. Of course, it was Sirius who broke the silence.

"Who are you? Why did you do that to Peter?" He demanded, leaping up out of his bed.

"Padfoot, sit down." Remus said, sighing. They couldn't do anything with the Deputy Headmistress standing outside the door. Why hadn't Dumbledore come to investigate, he wondered vaguely, but dismissed it; the Headmaster would have better things to do than deal with a trip down memory lane.

"Stop it!" Hermione shouted, as though from nowhere. She couldn't take it with the familiar names, and she was now beginning to feel bad for calling Sirius bigheaded when he'd said he was handsome… but this wasn't the real Sirius, she reminded herself, so it was OK.

Sirius looked a little startled – he wasn't used to _girls_ shouting at him. Was it legal to curse a girl, if she cursed him first? He didn't know – he'd never had to. He thought and hoped it was, since it seemed as though this girl was already in a _really_ bad mood.

"Well, well, sorry for wondering, but you did kind of just _stun someone_ and I'm not exactly going to let you get away with it." He said coldly. No one spoke to him like that. Ever.

"Leave her alone!" The redhead piped up, his ears going red. Sirius smirked at this – he knew the signs of a crush when he seen them, "Why should we tell you _Death Eaters_ anything?" He asked.

"What the hell are you on about?! We're not Death Eaters!" Sirius retorted, jokes about crushes and girlfriends forgotten. He was _sick_ of people accusing him of being a Dark wizard, just because he was a Black! He had been sorted into Gryffindor instead of Slytherin! Didn't that count for anything? Apparently not. Luckily for Ron, Remus saw the danger coming and rescued him.

"Padfoot, leave it! We're already probably going to be expelled, we don't need any other offences to add to the list. We're lucky we got away with what you said to Snivellus Fifth-Year, and Dumbledore's still watching us – you and Prongs in particular! Sit down and forget it – McGonagall will explain everything to us later." He couldn't help but shoot a glare at Ron, anyway; him? A Death Eater? Never!

"Wait – how do you know about that? Pettigrew was in the Hospital Wing, during that, and they never told him all that much about it… Professor Lupin said… and Snape wouldn't have…" Hermione trailed off, looking confused. "Who are you?"

"_Professor_ Lupin?" Remus broke in. "I'm a Professor? But – how could I – with…" He trailed off, thinking better than to bring up his 'furry little problem' when he didn't know these people. Or what was going on, or what they were talking about, or what they wanted… Sirius answered Hermione's question as though nothing had happened, saving him from any questioning.

"The Marauders. You've probably heard of us." Sirius said, a glint of pride in his eye that Hermione only just managed not to laugh at. It couldn't be Sirius, yet no one was that genuine and proud… even Snape wasn't that good an actor, and he had convinced Dumbledore that he was on their side for years…

"OK. Say I'm going to humour you. You are really Sirius Black. The Marauders really are here, now. How did you get here?" Hermione asked him. This was an excuse she was looking forward to.

"By magic, of course!" Sirius dared to be a little more bragging, now that the girl had calmed down. Perhaps he could get back at that boy for shouting at him… "But I'm not sure we can tell you." He _did_ know how to keep a secret, he was an Animagus, after all, and he wasn't about to sell himself out that easily.

"You can't Apparate within school grounds. And I'm afraid that we'll find out anyway – McGonagall is probably out there telling Harry everything."

The walk to the Headmistress's office seemed to take much longer than usual. Usually, it was only when something was very important that he had to go in, but at least he was now sure that they weren't Death Eaters; McGonagall wouldn't have told them to lower their wands if they were, they wouldn't have obeyed her and gotten back into bed, and she wouldn't have left Hermione and Ron in there on their own.

That didn't stop him worrying, though. His best friends were stuck in the Hospital Wing with three – well, two; those stunners would hold for a while – random people who looked very much like people they knew. That wouldn't be so worrying if they weren't 21 years younger than they should be and one of them wasn't dead.

And then there was the boy next to him. He had begun to think of him as James, but only because every time he thought 'the boy over there who looks too much like my dead dad to be real', he had already missed half a conversation by the time he had finished. There was no actual way it was possible, so Harry walked on one side of the corridor, James on the other. Obviously, James didn't want much to do with Harry, either.

They walked in silence until they got to the Headmistress's office. The new Deputy Headmaster and Transfiguration teacher was waiting on the other side of the door, and he and James stood immobile, eyeing each other up. James seemed most shocked by what lay before him than the Professor did – he would have been informed beforehand.

"Moony?"


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Come on, guys! 490 hits and 6 reviews?! Please review, even if it's just to say you liked it or something. However, longer reviews are always appreciated. ) Suzi

Chapter 3

"Moony? B-but it can't…"

But it wasn't. There was too much grey in his hair, and he had small worry wrinkles, and he looked even more stressed than the real Moony during exam revision. Nevertheless, it was the same face, the same walk, it just I was /I . He didn't know how, but he could tell, the same way he could pick Wormtail or Padfoot out of any amount of rats and dogs. He wasn't sure about Moony, because he hadn't ever seen another wolf, and he never planned to.

"Prongs." It wasn't a question. Yes, he had been informed beforehand, but his voice still shook. How could this have happened? He couldn't remember anything like this happening. Apparently, there was a younger Remus Lupin sitting in the Hospital Wing, trying to calm down his friends and 'handle the situation'. He would have laughed at that, if not for the circumstances. "So. Tell me what happened." It was neither a request nor an order, just a sentence between old friends.

"Can't you remember?" He asked wryly. He hated seeing Moony I old /I like this; it was as though when he went back to the Hospital Wing, the real Moony would be like that too. "If you can't, then how do I know it's even you?"

"Of course I can't remember. This stupid prank has altered time, and if we don't put it right soon, things will start to go wrong. Your timing never was good, either. The fact is, if any of you find out I anything /I from this time, it could cause a massive chain reaction when you go back to the past." Remus said, trying to indicate the seriousness of the situation.

"When? Not I if /I ?" James cocked his head to the side. Did that mean that this old man had already found a way to send them back? He had to remember to give Moony more credit in the future – well, in the past.

"When." He replied firmly. "We're in Hogwarts – we have some of the best spell casters in the world at our fingertips. All we need to know is what spell you used, the exact words. And how – or why – you made it stop at this exact time."

All the time, Harry had sat down and listened silently, but it had all become too much. "When he goes back to the past? Remember? Alter time? Professor, what is going on? This can't be real - not with Sirius, and Wormtail, and I him /I ."

"I'm afraid so, Mr. Potter." McGonagall piped up for the first time. Harry could honestly say this was the first time he had ever seen her speechless. In fact, she seemed as overwhelmed by this as Harry himself was. The only difference was that she knew what was going on.

"Potter?" James raised his eyebrows, "But…" There was no denying it; that was twice McGonagall had called him Potter. If James was the last male with the second name Potter, then this boy could only be his son. James didn't even have any sisters who could have kept their maiden names. He was too young to be a dad! "This is twisted. You're, what, seventeen? Same as me. It's just not right. Hey, wait, who's…?"

"No, James." Remus interrupted. He still knew his teenage friend well enough to know that he was about to ask about Harry's mother. "You and Harry can't talk about his life at all. It's all very well to talk about yours, but you I must not /I talk about anything after the date you left the past. Were you even I listening /I before?" Of course not. Since when did James listen to teachers? Still, it was him. Of course he would do as he was told. He sighed. "Go on, James, tell us I exactly /I what happened."

"How do you know that? About Apparating?" Remus enquired. Of course, he knew that, but he had thought that he was the only one to have ever read I Hogwarts: A History /I . Of course, this was different; he and this girl lived 20 years apart. There had to be one person in every generation to stop the rest from doing something stupid.

"I read it. In I Hogwarts: A History /I ." She confirmed. "Anyway, you may as well tell us what' s going on, since Harry will just come straight back and tell us everything. Tell us the truth and it might help you out a little. Who are you really?" If they told the truth now, they might not be punished as badly by the Order, she thought. Of course, she didn't have any influence, but Harry might.

"I told you. We're the Marauders." Sirius said, rolling his eyes. This girl clearly thought she was on to something, when really there wasn't a question to be answered, or a crime to be solved or whatever.

"Prove it." Ron said defiantly. He didn't know what Hermione was up to, but he could see easily that they were lying. Sirius just didn't act like that. He had been like a cool big brother to Harry, sometimes and over-protective parent, but never a carefree truth-teller.

"No. Why should I prove anything to I you /I ?" He looked Ron up and down. "What makes you so special? And anyway, the only way we could prove it would be to tell you something that only the Marauders know, but if only the Marauders knew it, then you couldn't, could you?" He said it all too fast for it to make sense to anyone who wasn't used to dealing with him.

"The password for the map. Where you got your nicknames. Sure, the Marauders aren't that well-known around Hogwarts, but if ever there were any students who knew about the Marauders, it's us." Ron challenged. It was just a competition now, to see who could outsmart the other into admitting he was wrong.

"How do I know that you already know? Tell you what. You turn the map on. I'll wipe it." He pulled a piece of parchment out of his pocket. One of the Marauders always carried it with them at all times. Of course, this boy didn't know how to turn the map on. Actually, Sirius was surprised that he even knew about it at all.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." Ron said it very quietly, hoping that they wouldn't hear him. He didn't want to give them any information that might be useful to them. But wait – how did they get the map? Hadn't Harry had it locked in his trunk just last night? It wasn't possible! But this I was /I the map, he knew, watching the ink rush out to all of the corners and form into a perfect map of Hogwarts.

Sirius's eyes widened. "But – how could you – who told you?!" He demanded. They had all sworn that they would never tell anyone about the map, and he knew for a fact that, to that very date, it was still a secret. Well, unless the calendar was right and this wasn't all just some prank. He knew, deep down, that someone must have told, however. "Mischief Managed." He pocketed the parchment, seeing the boy in a whole new, more dangerous, light.

At that moment, all of the occupants of the room – Peter excluded – knew that the other was who they were. They had to be the Marauders, and the Trio had to be from the future. The Potter boy had to be James's son, and that one weather spell gone dramatically wrong could have dire consequences.

"I told you. I told you! It sounds like a time spell, I said, they're illegal, I said, but do you I ever /I listen to me? No, course you don't, 'cause it's just me. It wasn't James who said it, so of course nothing bad would happen. When will you ever learn?" Of course, Remus couldn't blame Sirius completely. "I should never have helped you. It was such a stupid thing to do and now we're all going to get expelled!" He had come so close in Fifth-Year, when Sirius had played that awful trick on Severus, but they had managed, and now it was all for nothing! In his last year too, when he had worked so hard and revised so long for his N.E.W.T.s, but now he would be an outcast, just as he had always feared…

"Calm down, Moony." Sirius said evenly. He knew that expulsion and being an outcast were sore points for Moony, because of his 'condition'. "We've got through worse than this. Think about it; when we get back, no one will even know what we did, because it hasn't happened yet! They'll only find out in 20 years time, when it'll be too late, and we'll all have jobs and stuff. They can't exactly put us in detention I then /I , can they?"

Hermione couldn't listen to this. It was so illogical and unnatural. They had to be telling the truth; she knew that much. But she couldn't stand listening to them talking about their future, not knowing what was in store, when she could warn them about what was going to happen. She glanced at the rat – in the truest sense of the word – who was still lying unconscious in the middle of the floor. If they could just get rid of him before he had the chance to do anything, or warn the others before he turned spy for You-Know-Who. Or even just say to Sirius, I 'You have to be the Secret Keeper. No one else.' /I , they'd figure it out when they had to and Harry would still have parents. But she couldn't; she'd read up on meddling with time in Third-Year when she'd had her time turner. It was too dangerous, and yet so tempting…

Ron hadn't read up on time turners, and since he had been out-cold during that particular adventure, he hadn't even heard the warnings. "Sirius, mate, they won't have to." He looked over at their unconscious friend coldly, "Pettigrew over there will already be getting away with murder."

"Is it really very critical that they don't learn I anything /I about the future?" Harry asked the Professors as James finished his story. Something had just struck him. Hard. "Because we've left Ron and Hermione in a room alone with Sirius and – er – young Professor Lupin."

Immediately, everyone jumped up. They all dashed as one out the door and towards the Hospital Wing. Harry and James were the fastest of the two, both having very good reflexes and being used to exercise because of Quidditch. They both got there at almost exactly the same time, just in time to hear Ron say:

"- Pettigrew over there will already be getting away with murder."

"Ron, no!" Harry shouted. "Don't tell them anything!" What could happen if they knew that Wormtail was going to kill James? They could stop him, and Harry would have parents, or Pettigrew might turn spy earlier, or they might not believe him and they'd all be killed, or… Harry didn't know how, but somehow, he knew that nothing good could come out of this.

Professor Lupin froze properly this time, looking at his younger self. Obviously he was flustered, but he was scared to go comfort – er - himself. In fact, as soon as he regained movement in his limbs, he turned around and exited the Hospital Wing, thinking solely of a very strong bottle of mature fire whiskey that he had been hiding away for a special occasion.

"What? They aren't Death Eaters, Harry! I don't know how it happened, but Lupin was rambling about a time spell, and Sirius is really here! Pettigrew is out cold, still, so we don't have to worry about him, but -" He spoke very quickly, trying to tell Harry everything before he had to breathe.

"I know, Ron, just shut up and think for a second. We can't tell them anything or we risk messing up the whole past and future. As much as I'd like to tell them about their lives, we can't or we risk letting millions of other people live or die or change or something! And we can't tell anyone about them, either." Harry said, trying to tell Ron everything before he got the chance to finish taking a breath in.

"Whoa, the future talks fast." Sirius remarked. What had Ron been about to tell them that it was so important they didn't know? Or was it just important that they didn't know anything at all. And what could Peter be getting away with? He'd heard that Muggle saying, and it meant he'd be doing big things. Why would they need to worry about him, though?

"Mr Potter – Harry, that is – Weasley and Miss Granger, I strongly suggest that you all go back to your Common Rooms now, and discuss this away from listening ears." She looked pointedly at the Marauders; it was best if they did not discuss anything from which they could discover information in front of them. In fact, McGonagall decided, they should not be discussing I anything /I with these people. It was too dangerous. "I'm afraid that I have to forbid you from entering this Wing again unless you have to. I want you to stay away from them, you three." It was something that she really hated to do, but evidently necessary. "No arguments." She said to the Trio, who had opened their mouths to protest. "Time to leave."

With that, she shooed them out and turned back to the Marauders. "I'm warning you four; do not try anything funny. You have no idea of the situation outside these walls or have how your actions might alter them. And this I must stress; do not try to visit those three students. Especially not Harry Potter."

Harry couldn't believe what had just happened. Not only had McGonagall taken away his last ever chance to speak to his Godfather, and his only chance to speak to his father, but she had forbidden him from interfering with the situation at all; basically, he wasn't allowed to help send them home.

"I can't believe that there's nothing I can do. I could hand Pettigrew over to the Order, or warn my Dad and Sirius, or tell them to polish Snape off while they can, or… I don't know, but I could help!" Harry raved, frustrated. This was the only chance he would ever have to fix things and make them right. He could tell them so much, maybe even enough to stop Voldemort coming back!

"Harry. You can't go back in time to fix every little mistake you make. I'm sorry, too, that there's nothing we can do, but there isn't really another way. We'd be risking I everything /I if we told them anything. Think – if you told James that Lily would end up going out with him, and he grew too confident, he wouldn't have 'deflated his head' as Sirius said, and Lily wouldn't like him, then you wouldn't be born and things would just be… out of control." Hermione reasoned.

"Hermione, chain reactions aren't predictable. But if we told Sirius that he had to be Dad's Secret Keeper, then he wouldn't decide to change it at the last minute, and they would still be alive, and Sirius wouldn't have spent 13 years in jail for a crime he didn't commit! And if we told him to hide away in Grimmauld Place with Dad as his Secret Keeper, and to stay away from the veil, then he'd still be here too."

"Harry, you've only just said that chain reactions aren't predictable! If we try to change the past, then this reality won't exist anymore. You won't even remember changing it, because the Marauders will change things so that they're not the way things are now, so we won't exist as we are just now." Hermione sighed. "It's all very complex, but do you see what I'm saying? We can't do it."

"No, Hermione, I do not see what you are saying; we've already done it! Buckbeak and Sirius wouldn't have lived past Third-Year if we hadn't decided to mess around with time. I don't see any lasting chain reactions there, do you?"

"Er – yes! Pettigrew got away, Voldemort was revived, Sirius and Buckbeak lived, we were almost killed I twice /I , by werewolves and dementors, Snape hated you even more… Just a few!" Hermione retorted angrily.

"But – Voldemort would have come back anyway, we were almost killed by Professor Lupin and the dementors I before /I we went back in time, as well as after, we I weren't /I killed, and Snape hated me anyway… so the only I real /I ones are that Sirius and Buckbeak weren't executed." Harry protested again.

"It's sad that you can dismiss almost being killed just like that, Harry," Hermione said bitterly, "I know you're the one who has to kill Voldemort and everything, but you're only seventeen, and you shouldn't be able to talk about death as easily as the weather - "

"I hate to break this up, but incoming." Ron broke in, pointing up the corridor. A familiar flame of bright red hair was just visible straight ahead. His sister came into view.

"Oh no. I really can't handle this right now." Harry groaned, looking from left to right. There was nowhere to hide in the long, narrow corridor and it was too late to turn back; she would have already seen him.

Every time he had seen her or tried to speak to her since he had returned to Hogwarts, she hadn't said much. Just a few straightforward words and then she left. She wasn't being I cold /I exactly, just not as friendly as usual, and not as understanding as he'd thought she would be. Of course it doesn't sound like much to handle, but it hurt him. He wasn't about to admit it to anyone, of course, but every time it happened he got a horrible pain in his stomach as it twisted and contorted – sort of the opposite of butterflies.

"Hi, Ginny." He said, trying to cover up the fact that anything was going as, as well as the fact he couldn't stand not being able to kiss her or hug her or talk to her the way he could have at the end of last year. Of course, she wouldn't comment on his strange tone of voice; it was the same one he had been using since September.

"Hi, Harry, Ron, Hermione." She replied, her gaze lingering on him for only a second. "Where've you been? I saw you all running out of the Common Room like something was on fire. When you didn't come back, I thought I'd come look for you. I've got nothing better to do." She avoided looking at Harry, instead looking directly at the other two or the floor.

"Hospital Wing. I had stomach pains." Ron lied, his ears going a telltale red. Of course, Ginny would find out anyway – it seemed that all Weasleys had an instinct that told them when something unusual was going on. "It's OK, I'm fine now, but I wouldn't go in there for a while – smells like vomit, now. Madam Pomfrey can't get the smell to shift."

"Yeah, we think that the twins must have sent him something or slipped something in his trunk that stops the cleaning spell from working. I guess we'll just have to avoid it for a while." Hermione added.

"Hmm. Right, OK." Ginny said, frowning. She didn't comment on the obvious lie. "Well, I guess I'll see you guys later then." She turned away and walked back the way she came, towards the Common Room.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: You guys should know that I'm not a very fast writer, and I've only wrote to chapter 6, so updates could be a bit slower from then on. And I've got over 900 hits and 27 alerts, but 9 reviews over 3 chapters?! Come on, reviews make me happy! ) Suzi

Chapter 4

She hadn't bought it. She knew something was going on. She would find out what and find a way to get involved and in danger, as she always did. And he would have only himself to blame.

These were extra worries running through Harry's head, now, on their way back to the Common Room. Of course, now that he had split up with Ginny, she would find a way to get involved and remind him that I he /I split up with I her /I , meaning that he no longer had any business being overprotective. She wouldn't do it deliberately; it was just the way things would go, with Ginny.

"Harry, don't worry about her." Hermione said, "She's coping with the break-up better than you think." Better than you. She hadn't said it out loud, but the meaning was clear – stop obsessing, she doesn't feel the same.

"Sorry, Hermione, but I don't know what you're talking about," He replied. He wasn't going to show a weakness. That was what the break-up had been all about in the first place – Ginny had been an obvious weakness to Voldemort. "And I hope she is dealing with it, because she's just going to have to." It was to keep her safe, so he thought he had a right to be stubborn this time. It didn't help, however, that it was turning into some sort of contest between the two, trying to outwait the other. Of course, Harry didn't I really /I want to win – he wanted Ginny to wait until he'd finished dealing with Voldemort.

And that was the end of that conversation. The same thing had happened every time someone mentioned Harry and Ginny's short but sweet relationship. Harry firmly denied that he wasn't coping or that he felt bad and then quickly changed the subject or stopped talking completely. In this case, it was the latter. There was an awkward silence until they got to the Common Room. Instead of heading straight for 'their' seats, next to the fire, they headed for a secluded corner where they wouldn't be overheard. This was ensured by the complicated 'silence cloak' charm which Hermione cast.

"OK, so Sirius didn't realise what you meant about Pettigrew – but Professor Lupin might be able to figure it out." Hermione started talking as soon as the spell was cast. "Sirius always said he was clever one, the Prefect – although your Dad was Head Boy, and he's had all the risks explained to him, so he'll probably realise that Ron let slip something important. Oh no, oh no, oh no, Ron, what else did we say to them?"

"I dunno, but they know we know about the map, and how to work it… I called them Death Eaters, too… and, obviously, what I said about Pettigrew." Ron said soberly. In just those few details, he had already given away more than he should have – if only they had went to McGonagall instead of storming in. Hopefully, though, it wasn't beyond repair.

"What do you think, Harry?" Hermione asked looking worried. Usually he didn't hesitate to comment – or make a stupid plan to try and save things. Usually it made things worse, but it was worrying that he wasn't I trying /I to help. "You haven't said much." Of course, seeing Sirius and James had to have hit him hard, especially since they were still friendly with Pettigrew.

Harry sighed, blinked twice and appeared to snap out of a deep train of thought. He had to take charge – it was what everyone expected, especially since this was something so close to him. That didn't make it any easier, though – he hadn't quite got used to Sirius not being here any more, and now here was Sirius, back again, with his Dad, who he had never expected to ever see alive. And then there was the whole not-allowed-to-talk-to-them-or-see-them thing. How could McGonagall even try to take back from him the one chance he'd ever have to get to know his Dad, and the last chance he'd ever get to see Sirius? He wasn't stupid – it wasn't as though he was going to go about telling them that Voldemort was back and they were all dead or anything like that – in fact, it might be suspicious if he kept away. And anyway; they were the Marauders. Did McGonagall seriously think she could keep them cooped up in the Hospital Wing until she figured out how to send them back? Time hadn't managed to hold them back, why did she think she could?

"I think that I'm going to get the map," He replied, standing up, "And go talk to them. I don't know what I'm going to say, or anything; just that I want to talk to them. There's no way that they are still in the Hospital Wing, anyway. If I know Sirius, then they've brought the cloak and the map with them."

As soon as McGonagall had dragged Peter back onto his bed – well, watched James and Sirius do it – she left, saying it would be better to let Peter 'recover on his own'. Apparently – and it was news to them – 'magical revival could have bad repercussions on the brain'. Well, maybe that was what had happened to Snivellus to make him so weird – they had stupefied him enough times. Then again, that was only I because /I he was being weird. He had yet to take the hint.

James and Sirius leapt into a huge discussion about Harry. James now knew for certain it was his son – after all, he didn't have any brothers or sisters, so he couldn't be his nephew. The name Potter wasn't the most common in the magical world and they looked too alike not to be related, anyway – how else could they be related?

"The only thing I could see that was different was that scar on his forehead – what's with that? Did you chuck him out a window, or something? It looks old." Sirius commented. "No, wait, there was something else – his eyes. They were bright green. He looked exactly like you apart from that. I'm telling you, it was scary. And they knew who we were, too. I And /I how to work the map. The girl – they didn't mention her name – got all annoyed at us for talking… what was it you said, Moony?" He looked over at Remus, who seemed a little shocked at something. When no answer was forthcoming, he continued. "' I Padfoot, sit down. /I ' That's what he said. And she got all angry and started shouting at us to stop it. But this boy – he was definitely your kid, right? I don't see how he could be anyone else. He was a Potter, too. But then – who was his mum?" Sirius's eyes suddenly had a mischievous glint. "Merlin, this is going to be fun." He took the map out. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." The ink spread out to form a map of the school. His eyes darted to Gryffindor Common Room, but stopped short. "There they are: 'Harry Potter', 'Ron Weasley', Hermione Granger', and a 'Ginny Weasley' walking towards them. "Ron was that redhead, Hermione must have been the girl – who's that Ginny, then? They're on their way to the Common Room." He looked up expectantly at his friends to find that both were too deep in thought to be listening to him.

"Green eyes…" James was muttering. They didn't run in his family, as far as he knew. The childish, hopeful part of him (a rather large part) had thought immediately of a certain redheaded, green-eyed witch, but he had immediately dismissed that thought. Lily Evans hated him, always had and always would. Even now that he was Head Boy (and she was Head Girl) she still tried to avoid him and got angry whenever he made the tiniest little mistake. Well, she hadn't been as bad lately; in fact, he would go so far as to call them friends, but only just.

Remus, however, wasn't saying anything. He just sat, staring at the Hospital doors, a mixed expression on his face. What it was a mix of was anyone's guess; fear was in there, anxiety, shock, some calculation, confusion… all sorts of things. His breathing was deep and steady, but deliberately so, as though he was making a conscious effort to keep it that way.

"Moony?" Sirius said with a confused frown. What was wrong with him? I He /I hadn't heard anything that could've upset him – well, there was the whole 'forward in time by 21 years' thing, but that wasn't it, or he would've been like this earlier. Hadn't he been telling him off not long ago for convincing him to do the time spell?

"It's – yes, that's me. But that – it's him – but it's not. It can't – it doesn't make sense. At all." He murmured the same things over and over again, ignoring all attempts to speak to him, ask him a question or get his attention. It was not until Sirius stood up, went over to him and waved his hand in front of his face, shouting his name.

"Moony? Moony! MOONY!"

Remus jumped, seeming to snap out of a trance. What happened? Why was someone shouting his name? It took him a second to understand.

"Sirius!" His voice seemed nervous, for some reason that Sirius couldn't fathom. "I – didn't you see – me. But it wasn't – he was over there." His eyes returned to the door. "Older, greyer. A I Professor /I here, at Hogwarts!" Excitement joined the nervousness. "But he turned around as soon as he saw me. He looked stressed. I never thought I'd stress myself out." He mused. "I have to talk to him – I mean me – I mean..." He looked back at Sirius, then spotted the map on his bed. "Oh good, you've got it out." He rushed over to it, looking closely. "What am I teaching?" He was speaking to himself, now, Sirius watching uncomprehendingly. "' I Professor Remus Lupin /I '. Third floor, Defence Against the Dark Arts Office. I'm a Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor!" He looked up gleefully. "I'm a werewolf, but Dumbledore still gave me a job! How long have I been teaching, I wonder? What should I say to Dumbledore in my interview? I need to ask. Come on, Sirius, James."

"But – but wait! Shouldn't we go talk to Harry first? And Ron and Hermione. They seem to know who we are, so they might know how long you've been teaching. And I saw you looking at Hermione." Sirius smirked.

"What? I wasn't! Not like I that /I !" Remus said, blushing a little. Sirius always read into everything too deeply – he had just been surprised that she knew about Apparating, that was all. "I'm 20 years older than she is! I'm her Professor!" But wasn't he only 17? And she had to be the same, judging by the Head Girl badge on her robes.

" I Right /I , Moony. She's the same age as us. Ever heard of a Holiday Romance? Course, Ron might not be too happy – he seemed pretty mad when I was angry with her for Peter. I think there might be something going on there. Tough luck, mate. Anyway – how about we meet up with Harry, Ron and Hermione first, and find out what's going on in Hogwarts these days? I mean, it's James's son, and he'll probably know what happened to all of us, including you." Sirius pointed out.

"Yeah, I like that idea." James said, surprising the other two – they hadn't thought he was listening. "And, judging by the map, and myself – I I did /I raise him… sort of -" He added, getting up and looking at it upside down from opposite Remus, "He's having similar thoughts."

The small black dot labelled ' I Harry Potter /I ' had just left his two friends, went into the Gryffindor Boys' Dormitory for a few seconds, rejoined his friends and was heading out of the Common Room. James pulled his Invisibility Cloak out of his pocket – how could he not carry it? – and threw it over the three of them.

"Sorry, Wormtail, we'll have to fill you in later." Sirius said, looking back at his friend. "We're going hunting for Prongs Junior." He smirked at his own joke, following his other two friends. They could see, roughly, which way the other trio was going, and tried to meet it halfway. In the end, the walked straight into them in the middle of a secret passageway.

"Ow!" All six of them cried at the same time. Harry and James were leading each group, so they walked into each other, then stepped back, Harry stumbling into Ron and Hermione. James would have fallen back down the stairs had Sirius and Remus not been there to catch him – well, more like break his fall.

"That was stupid." Harry said, pulling his cloak off and wiping the map. James did the same. Everyone's breath caught again as they saw, for the second time, the similarities between the two. Ron and Hermione should have expected it, having been told often that Harry looked so much like his dad, but it was still uncanny. Only the eyes and the scar were different – it was almost scary. Now, however, that each group knew the other wasn't a threat, they just stood and looked at each other.

"Don't try and blame us – you walked into us." James replied, rubbing his head.

"No, he didn't. You walked into each other, too busy looking at the maps." Hermione corrected.

"So. Where do we start with the questions?" Sirius wondered aloud. Despite McGonagall's warnings, it was the obviously the only thing they could do – the temptation was irresistible.

"Who's your Mum?" James asked immediately, looking straight into his eyes – the bright green ones that he couldn't recognise, but were still familiar. It was amazing that he didn't know whom they belonged to, since he had spent many years wishing that they would notice him for the right reasons, and not see him as a bully or big-head. All they had seen so far, however (to his knowledge) was a 'toe rag'. He had slightly redeemed himself, though, when he became Head Boy. He and Lily had duties together, now, so they had focused on having a civil relationship, and it seemed to be working out pretty well. Actually, he had been trying to get her to like him more by taking her own advice – 'grow up and be more responsible'. She hadn't phrased it quite so politely, but that was the gist of it

"He can't tell you that," Hermione replied right away, "Harry, you have to let them get together on their own. Don't encourage him by answering his questions, either. We I can't /I , you said so yourself!" She knew that Harry wanted to tell James everything, even though he knew he shouldn't. If he did, he could change the whole I course of time /I !

"So it's someone I already know?" James assumed. Usually, he wasn't good with piecing details together, but this was the rest of his life they were talking about! He was going to listen to every detail and put it all together as best as he could. "Get together on our own… so we'll get together sometime soon, too, by the sounds of it… she has green eyes… interesting…" As soon as he got back he was making a list of every girl in Hogwarts with green eyes who he hadn't dated. Or maybe he'd just asked again when Hermione was gone. "So you're Hermione, and he's Ron?" He confirmed, just in case. "And you've got a relative called Ginny…" He said the latter to Ron, remembering what Sirius had said about the map. Hey, this piecing together details thing was pretty easy, when it was important stuff, instead of I What types of cauldron fungi are caused by Polyjuice Potion/I . "And what's with the scar?"

"Car crash." Harry repeated the lie that the Dursleys had told him until the age of 11, leaving out the part about his parents dying, of course. "And how do you know about Ginny?" He added sharply. Of course, as Sirius used to say, ' I The Marauders had their ways/I ', but they had been apart for, at most, 20 minutes, and he already knew who Ron was related to? Hopefully he hadn't dug any deeper than that…

"Car crash? I was in a car? Ha! Since when did I know anything about anything Muggle? Unless your Mum's a muggle… or muggle-born?" He added, frowning. He cocked his head to the side when Harry reacted so sharply. "Oh, touched a nerve there, did I? What, is she a Slytherin, or something?"

"No, she's a Gryffindor, but I just find it strange that you already know my best friend's sister 20 minutes after arriving. Wait, you haven't spoken to her, have you?" That would be disastrous – she might jump to conclusions, the way he had, and straight out hex them. Her bat-bogey hex was still one of the most feared things in Hogwarts. Harry would have to keep her away from the Marauders at all costs – not that he had planned to let her in on things, anyway. This time travel stuff was more dangerous than any of them knew, and in Voldemort's hand, it could be deadly. He'd broken up with her to protect her, so he didn't plan on handing over knowledge like that.

"No, we saw you talking to her on the map. Why's it so important we don't?" He asked.

"Possibly because of the fact that we I don't want to disrupt time any more than we already have I !" Remus answered for him. Something was weird about James – Remus had thought that when he had attempted to 'grow up' this year, and became Head Boy, that it was mostly an act for girls. Evidently, some of it had rubbed off on his genuine personality – or at least he was using some study techniques when he wanted to find something out. Remus had to say that he was pretty proud, if a little annoyed – he'd been helping him with his homework all these years. If only he'd applied himself… but that could wait for later.

"We can't disrupt time – everything's already happened, and we can't change that." James pointed out, I forgetting /I about the part where they would eventually go back and make it so that these things might not happen. Obviously, Remus wasn't falling for it, anyway.

"Come I on /I , James, you know as well as I do that things won't work like that." Remus snapped back irritably, "Just let it be!" Now that he was out, talking to Harry and his friends didn't seem like such a great idea – the adrenaline and confusion from seeing his older self had worn off slightly, and he was beginning to think straighter. "We have to get back, now. I can't believe I ever agreed to go along with this!"

"You did, because you wanted to ask him about yourself. So why can't I ask about him and me, and my life, and if I ever gave him any advice I said I wished I'd followed like always happens in all of your Muggle movies?" James whined. Of course, he wasn't going to listen; he never did listen to teachers, did he? "Anyway, now that we're past I that /I ," He rushed on without a chance for argument, "Why are you so worried about us talking to this Ginny?" He actually reminded him of Remus, the way he reacted when he was nervous. That was exactly the way Remus reacted when a girl was involved… "Hey, wait… I get it now!" He smirked.

"She's my sister – she knows as much as we do, except about you lot, so there's more chance of her letting something important slip." Ron covered, giving Hermione a sideways glance. He had spent a long time dwelling over Harry and Ginny's relationship during the summer – he was still a I tiny /I bit overprotective of his baby sister. He still wasn't happy about it, but he was much better than Michael Corner and Dean Thomas – and it was over now, anyway. But what would he do when Ginny got a new boyfriend? He knew she wasn't over Harry, but apparently she hadn't been in the first place… so, in a strange way, he kind of wanted Harry and Ginny back together. Not to mention to stop Harry moping about… "Don't talk to her – it could mess up everything! And if she thinks you're an impostor – you know, 'cause you look like Harry – you're really going to regret it… no one else in this school can I compare /I to her Bat-Bogey Hex."

"Oh," James frowned; that hadn't been where he thought things were going, but if she was more likely to let something slip, and she didn't know about them, she wouldn't be on her guard… this would be really easy. "Well, in that case, we'd better get back to the Hospital Wing before we discover something we shouldn't by accident." He smiled innocently. "C'mon, Padfoot, Moony, let's go."


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Hey, everyone! Sorry this took so long, but I've been ill and haven't been able to do any writing, so I've been writing chapter 7 for months, now... sorry all, but here it is! Suzi

Chapter 5

He turned back and threw the Invisibility Cloak over himself and his friends, and before any of the other three could say anything, the Marauders (minus one) were off. Sirius and Remus followed James out of the passageway where, after looking behind him to make sure Hermione, Harry and Ron were out of sight, he took out the map and activated it.

"If this Ginny is most likely to let things slip, then we should go talk to her – I mean, it's not like there's anything big to mess up, all we did was grow up. What could they tell us that we don't already know – what job we got? How many kids we had? Who we married? That wouldn't change anything, it would just help us out! We'd know what subjects matter, and what girls to talk to and stuff… it would just speed things up a bit, at worst!"

"Yeah…" Remus said slowly. He didn't completely agree with James, but his curiosity was overwhelming. He must have gone into some sort of shock at seeing himself – it wasn't like in a mirror or something, but there he was, 20 years older, a I Professor /I . It was just… wonderful, scary, confusing, bewildering, an overpowering mix of emotions that left him unable to think straight. "You're right."

"I could just stay under the Cloak and say it's Harry – he said she knows as much as them, so hopefully she'll know about it -" James began to think things through.

"Or you could even just not let her see your face – you look exactly the same except your eyes and scar – and if she sees it, say it's a temporary jinx… or that your memory's been wiped short term by some Slytherin… something that would let you ask loads of questions about you…"

"That I could /I work… a temporary curse or jinx that changes your eye colour, gets rid of the scar and wipes some of your important memories. But if she doesn't fall for it, you two will have to be there to back me up. I mean, you heard what those three were saying; maybe it was to scare us off, but maybe it wasn't – we can't take any chance. For all we know she could just be some stupid little First-Year, but they said she knows as much as them, so we might as well try it."

"There she is." Sirius said, locating a small black dot on the Seventh Floor, "That's the Gryffindor Common Room. How will we get in? Follow those three?" It was more of a suggestion than a question. The others nodded silently and they went into 'stealth mode'. They saw the other three exit through the other end of the passageway and followed quickly.

Harry glanced briefly down at the map, his eyes automatically seeking out Filch, though there was no real need; it was the middle of the day and he was doing nothing wrong. His brain was on autopilot, still trying to take in everything that had happened. So much so, in fact, that he never even saw the three dots close behind him, never mind think to check on the Marauders.

How could the Marauders be here, now, yet Sirius and his father still dead, Pettigrew still a traitor? And there was nothing he could say or do to change any of that – he couldn't even go talk to them. What had just happened was a kind of fluke – it was a build up of stress, confusion, fear - and all the other emotions associated with your dead father returning as a teenager, barely the same age as you. Just, you know, everyday drama in Harry Potter's life.

"I wish – just once – that I could have a I slightly /I quiet year…" Harry muttered to himself, his insides churning. His eyes stung a little – a delayed reaction to things – but he shook his head and shook off the impending tears. I Not here, now. It won't make anything any better. I have to keep calm about this, make sure they don't do anything stupid. /I It could mess up everything – what if he was never born, or Pettigrew went for Sirius and Remus first, then everyone was dead, and he wouldn't ever know them… or have any memories of them at all. His life would be completely different and changed, and he wouldn't even know.

How could he stop them from doing something stupid, however, when he couldn't think straight when they were around? And he hadn't even tried to speak rationally to Pettigrew, and he wondered why Pettigrew hadn't been there, anyway… why hadn't he asked? He was just glad that he wasn't there, and he was still not thinking straight. Maybe there was some kind of shock you went into when you saw some time travellers – especially ones who were close to you and recently – or not so recently in his father's case – deceased.

He had never known his father, except from stories and memories (Snape's in particular) but he'd always wanted to, and from the way people spoke about him, he'd been just like Sirius – Sirius and James had been compared to Fred and George. And then there was how he was still getting over Sirius' death. He'd never had a chance to say goodbye, and had tried everything he could to get him back after his death – and now that he'd finally started to accept it (because he had another death to deal with, and the duty to prevent more – he was the only one who knew how) he I was /I back, but he didn't know anything that had happened and just wasn't the godfather that Harry remembered. But they were still the same people – and the last chance Harry would ever get to see them.

Too bad he couldn't use it – he had to baby-sit his father, godfather, Professor and the traitor who killed two of them and turned to the dark side. What were they going to do next? He doubted they'd go back – they'd probably try and talk to Lupin, but he was too smart to let anything slip. They'd go anyway – Lupin had said so himself, that they'd probably try to interrogate him.

He groaned – all this confusing thinking was giving him a headache. He knew he was having a lot of delayed reactions today, and he just wanted some painkillers or Draught Of Peace or something to help him think – or stop thinking so much – but his tired out brain told him to avoid the Hospital Wing like the plague, and avoid more confrontations.

"Are you OK, mate?" Ron asked quietly. Of course the answer was no, but he wasn't going to make problems for everyone else.

"I'm fine." He said shortly. No more was said. He knew that, soon, Hermione would try to – and probably succeed – make him talk about things, like she always did, but that didn't make him any less reluctant to talk about things. Anyway, here, people might hear them.

"So what are we going to do?" Hermione asked, right on cue, "I mean, even with them here, we still have I loads /I of stuff that needs done. We've got loads of homework for N.E.W.T.s and then we've still got the –" She looked around cautiously, "The I You-Know-Whats /I … we still have to figure out where they are – we've made absolute no progress, but I still think we should search Hogwarts more thoroughly, since he I did /I want to come back. He probably thought it was safe here, which would make sense. And he could have made it while he was still in school, after all he I did /I kill his dad… he used the ring then… but all we have to figure out is what item he would have had then."

They had been over the same thing a million times, but had come to no conclusions. They just couldn't find the time to look everywhere in the castle when no one would find them. It would be helpful to split up, but as the best time to search was at night, they had to stay together with the cloak and map. Yes, McGonagall knew what they were doing but she couldn't give them special treatment without arousing suspicion.

If the matter was taken to the Headmistress, she would let them off without punishment, as it had been she who suggested they look around Hogwarts in the first place. In a vain attempt to get them to stay at Hogwarts, the Order Of the Phoenix had had to trust him that he couldn't tell anyone Dumbledore's theories and he had simply told them he had to look for some old magic. McGonagall had suggested they start at Hogwarts.

"It's where all magic begins in Britain – there are so many secrets there, I don't doubt you could find something to help you, whether it be in class or in the Restricted Section – which can be arranged." She added, trying to tempt them. He had to admit, he'd thought it was good idea at the time – only when he arrived did he realise the implications. There was always someone keeping an eye on him from afar; he'd lost his freedom. And yes, while he did get off with a few minor things (being out at night, Restricted Section, etc.) normal school rules still applied to him. This meant that, even if they did find anything, they would have to wait until a Hogsmeade trip or the holidays before they could leave the school grounds, and even then there would always be an Order member around (it was just the matter of losing them). And, of course, Horcruxes were a forbidden subject in school, so if he was found studying them, he'd be expelled. This, of course, couldn't ever happen: it being a forbidden subject in school, he was unlikely to find anything on them. All he could hope for was to come across some secret passageway which held vital clues – and he wasn't too eager to revisit the Chamber of Secrets again. It could wait.

Coming back to school had reduced his options severely, but he knew the extra Defence lessons would be useful. It had been arranged that Ron, Hermione and himself receive extra lessons outside of classes – a sort of advanced class. He'd been thinking of reforming Dumbledore's Army, too – he was sure there would be no resistance this time around, and it would be useful to everyone else. But it would cut down on his searching time. The only useful tool he had was the Marauders' Map. The I Marauders' /I Map. The Marauders? Maybe a little night-time wandering would keep them busy, and they I did /I know the school better than anyone else… but Harry didn't think he could trust them not to stray, or with what they were looking for. No, definitely not; if he told anyone else, it would be bad – very bad – but if he told the I Marauders /I , especially since they were from the past, it could very possibly be chaotic disaster.

I No, we can't tell them, or ask for their help. We have to do this on our own. /I He thought gloomily. It wasn't the first time a death had resulted in his feeling alone. Even if his friends were by his side.

"She's just come out of the Common Room and she's on her own, so there won't be anyone else there. That's a good thing – she'd expect us to know them. I'll say I got hexed. Keep it simple."

"What about Ron and Hermione?" Sirius asked, thinking. They weren't just pranksters – they were the masters of planning. When they had a brilliant idea, they worked out all of the glitches and fixed them. When it was important, however, they had to be careful not to miss some – even though they were excited.

"They did too… they've gone back to the Common Roo – no, what if she tries to go back? How about they're still in the Hospital Wing? McGonagall isn't about to let anyone in – well, anyone visible and conscious. Especially not now that Harry knows about us, so she can't check on it…"

"That'll work. OK, everyone quiet, she's about to turn the corner. Against the wall." James ordered in a whisper, ducking out from under the cloak. He was a well-practiced liar, but he hadn't ever been in a situation like this. He didn't even I know /I the person he was lying to.

A pretty redhead came around the corner – it must be Ginny; her hair was a bit more vivid than her brothers, but obviously from the same family – and he gasped. He had to admit (not aloud, of course) that his heart belonged to Lily (as stupid as that sounded, and yes, he still dated, but he never really liked any of them as much) but he I loved /I red-hair. He found himself wondering if she already had a boyfriend before reminding himself that he was 20 years older – and he always felt like he was betraying Lily, instead of making her jealous. Besides, how could she be jealous if she never knew?

"Harry? Is that you?" Ginny frowned from the other end of the corridor. She couldn't quite pinpoint it from that distance, but something looked… different. "Where're Ron and Hermione?"

"Hospital Wing." He replied, with a convincing grimace. "We got ambushed by a bunch of Slytherins. They jinxed Hermione and Ron bad enough for a 5 minute visit to the Hospital Wing, and they jinxed me too – not much of a jinx, but hey. I can't remember it very well – you know, the jinx. I can't remember much and my eyes are itchy, but I'll survive."

Ginny looked a little taken aback. He hadn't spoken to her so openly since the funeral, when she had told him she didn't mind his being noble… of course, that had been a huge lie. He seemed to sense something was wrong, since he tried to change the subject.

"We jelly-legged them all with a few more curses… let's just say that it wasn't a pretty sight." He smirked – a characteristic James smirk. Harry couldn't possibly have smirked like that so shortly after Dumbledore's death, but how could James know that? Ginny dismissed it – clearly there was something wrong with him the head.

"Er – Harry? No offence, but why are you talking to me? You've been avoiding me for months… too I noble /I to talk to I me /I . More important things…" She said bitterly. She didn't mean it; of course hunting down Voldemort was more important than her, Harry was the only one who could do it and she should accept it gracefully. There is, however, nothing graceful about rejection after admiring him from afar for so many years, finally being accepted and then an enormous change of circumstances. She couldn't help but be bitter – how could any girl accept a broken heart gracefully?

"Er -" He hadn't bargained for that. What exactly had Harry said or done? I Memory loss /I , His brain told him. He stuck to his pre-determined excuse. "Sorry, Ginny, but I don't remember much else either… that jinx was temporary, but I can't remember much about my life. What did I do?"

"You don't remember?" Ginny frowned. "Then you should be in the Hospital Wing. And anyway, you can ask Ron and Hermione – you had to ask Ron for permission to go out with me in the first place, didn't you?" She sulked. She didn't want to talk about it, and was rather hurt that he didn't remember.

"Ginny, I'm sorry for whatever I did, but I really need your help." He said, trying to look confused – it wasn't hard. What I was /I hard was keeping the look of pride off of his face – Harry was definitely a Potter. " I Please /I help me out here?"

"You said you had to do things on your own." She reminded him, but she sighed. She had to help him, didn't she? But she still hesitated. She couldn't tell him anything when at the back of her mind was the lingering feeling that something was wrong. But she didn't tell him that.

"OK. What I do /I you remember?" Ginny asked, with an interested look on her face.

"Just faces, names… my way around…" He was beginning to see the flaws. If he couldn't remember anything at all, wouldn't he still be in the Hospital Wing? "You know, stuff." He said vaguely. He ran his hand through his hair nervously– old habits die hard.

She frowned at the gesture. She'd never saw Harry do that before. And now she saw the differences – he looked so like Harry they had been hard to pick up on, but she saw the brown eyes and no scar. This wasn't Polyjuice Potion, as it would've been able to mimic those qualities, so perhaps it was time to double-check if this was Harry. "Names? What about my sister? Do you remember her name?" She had a sneaking suspicion that this wasn't Harry, but she didn't think it was a Death Eater. Even a Death Eater would know more than this about his life. The best way to find out was to trick him.

"Er…" He said awkwardly. He knew he'd been rumbled straight away, but was too cautious of what Ron said about her hexes to turn and run. "I remember what she looks like… red hair?" He guessed.

"Batony Mucus!" She cried, pulling her wand out of her pocket so fast that James hardly saw it. James ducked quickly, the spell barely missing him. He had been ready as soon as she started quizzing him to dodge any spells. She fired again straight away, James having conjured up a Shield Charm as soon as he could. He finished it just in time, but Ginny's hex dented it considerably. The two of them were very well matched; James was slightly faster, whereas Ginny had been trained for war in the DA.

The other two quickly began shooting spells from under the cloak, using its invisibility as an advantage. Ginny's eyes widened. What was going on? How was this boy doing this? Had she fallen for some kind of trap?

She went into defensive mode, ducking and diving while using the Shield Charm. She tried to keep moving backwards, but it was exhausting enough to keep moving. She couldn't keep it up for much longer on her own. The rain of spells stopped suddenly and the boy ran towards where the other spells had come from.

"Batony Mucus!" She shouted for a final time, and this time it hit. The boy fell and she turned on her tail and ran. Her anger had perhaps made the spell stronger than it should be, but that wasn't a bad thing; it would last for longer.

"Prongs!" She heard a cry from behind her.

Where had she heard that name before?

She hadn't spoken to Harry for the whole term, but oh boy did she need to talk to him now.

"Hermione… I've been thinking. I don't think we're going to find anything else in Hogwarts, not without any more help from all those memories Dumbledore always found, and I have no idea how he always got those. I know you want to finish your education and everything, but maybe… maybe it's time we start searching outside school." Harry had cautiously planned the 'speech' in his head until he had got to the Common Room. After uttering the password and a quick prayer for his life (Hermione would hear no insults to the library) he had slowly voiced his opinion, as if saying it slower would mean it having less impact. "I just don't think that there will be anything about a forbidden subject in the Library – especially if Voldemort couldn't find anything, like he said to Slughorn…"

Ron's eyes widened; they had discussed the subject at length between themselves, but neither had had the guts to say it to Hermione. She looked down guiltily.

"I know," She admitted, "Which is why I've been looking at inventories from book shops in Knockturn Alley." She looked up quickly. "I mean, it's seriously dark magic, so where else do we start looking? Maybe if we don't find anything there, they could refer us to someone who'll be able to help us. I haven't mentioned you to anyone – it would make them suspicious, and things would be a whole lot harder for us – but there are a few things that I think we still have to do. I know you don't want to revisit the Chamber of Secrets -" Hermione broke off, eyes wide. Ginny had just walked through the door. Luckily, she didn't seem to have heard Hermione – she didn't think she'd react well to Harry revisiting the Chamber.

"Harry Potter…" She said, eyes narrowed. "I don't know what you're up to – or what I idiot /I you put up to it, but you're going to tell me right now." She commanded, a kind of fire in her eyes.

She wasn't angry. She was I furious /I . She had been dumped, heart-broken, trying to get over it, avoided, humiliated and shot spells at. What had she ever done to deserve that? She'd tried to be accepting, tried not to take his mind off of whatever he was doing, but he had to make things personal. She had done I nothing /I , but if he wanted war; he was going to get it. She had the huge advantage of growing up with the twins.

"Well?!" She demanded a second time impatiently.

"I- I- er- I what /I ?" Harry asked, bewildered. He could honestly say that he had not put anyone up to anything, and that he wasn't really up to anything that concerned her in the slightest – well, not directly, if you included Voldemort.

"That idiotic stunt you just pulled could've got someone seriously hurt! In fact, it did." He saw a flash of smugness in the anger. "I bat-bogeyed your friend into oblivion before he disappeared."

"Stunt? What stunt? Gin – Ginny," He corrected - I Distance yourself, Harry, distance… /I "I swear, I haven't done anything. I've been with these two all day, in -" It dawned on him. "The Hospital Wing." He said grimly. He turned on Ron. "You said she was more likely to let something slip… Ginny, what exactly happened? Give me every detail."

"You're at it again! I Why /I are you talking to me? You can do things on your own, remember?" She snapped. She didn't know what was going on, and she didn't like being out of the loop.

"Ginny, this is important! Can't you just get over it for a second? You need to tell me what happened!" Harry said, incredulously. Why was she being so stubborn? He'd thought she'd understood, at the funeral.

"Get over it? Get over it! Get over yourself, Harry bloody Potter!" She snapped back, turning on her heel and storming up the spiral staircase to her dormitory. Harry stared after her hopelessly. Ron had turned red out of anger at the two of them, whereas Hermione just looked exasperated.

"Harry – that was a bit tactless of you." She pointed out. "You could've been a bit more – well, I polite /I , at least – if you wanted her to co-operate."

"Tactless?" Harry said, still staring non-comprehendingly at the staircase. "How? I wasn't impolite! I only told her to –"

"Get over it, yes." Hermione said in an annoyingly patient voice. "But you still haven't quite gotten over her, have you? She feels the same way, and you both know exactly how the other feels."

"Oh." He said, deflating slowly. She was right, as always – he hadn't followed his own advice. How could he tell her to get over anything when he'd spent the majority of his Seventh-Year wishing he'd never been so stupid, and the rest of it telling himself it was all for the better.

"Think a little more, next time, will you?" She requested before following Ginny off upstairs to see if she was all right.

"Harry, don't ever shout at my baby sister again." Ron said threateningly.

"Ginny?" Hermione called softly, knocking on the door to the Sixth-Year Girls' dorms. There was no reply, so she opened the door and went in. Ginny was sitting on her bed with her arms folded across her chest glaring violently at nothing and everything.

"What?" She said, a little more hostile than she meant to be to her friend. She sighed, long and slow, trying to let out her anger. "Sorry. He just – well, you know."

"Yes, I know." She replied with a small smile, "You're frustrated, and he's totally out of order. It's just his way of dealing with things – he really didn't want to break up with you, you know. He thought it was his duty."

"I know, we've said all this before. He thinks the world is solely his responsibility, but I just wish that he'd see it wasn't. I want to help him, and so do the Order, even if he won't let them. I'd curse anyone else into oblivion… but it'd just make things worse with him, and that's the opposite of what I want."

"I know, I know. Have you thought about changing tactics? Show him what you can do, that you can stand up for yourself. If he knew you could look after yourself, and you could keep each other a secret, he might come around."

"I thought about it, but not like that… you really are a genius, you know that Hermione?" She smirked. She just had to think about how to do so, but she knew Hermione was right – she'd be too busy moping to see things like that.

"So I'm told," She said, sounding amused. "Now, come on. Are you ready to tell us what happened? It I is /I important." Hermione said kindly.

"Do you mind if I just tell you? You can tell my brother and Harry. I don't think it's the best idea for me to talk to them, just now." She said, grimacing. She knew that it would just take one wrong word to make her angry again.

Hermione nodded and she told her everything that had happened – especially the part that, now that she looked back, might have involved an invisibility cloak.

Hermione went back downstairs to Ron and Harry, and, after reassuring them that Ginny was fine, repeated everything that she had said.

"And at the end, when she bat-bogeyed them, she heard someone shout, 'Prongs!' so it was definitely the Marauders. It's not like we didn't warn them," She smirked, "But we have to find them and, first, make sure they don't go looking again, and second, that your dad's OK. I think that he might be in a bit of a – well, state."

"I can't believe I was so stupid. I should have checked that they were going back, but then we started talking about the Horcruxes and stuff, and I kind of forgot about them…"

"It's OK, mate, you don't have to make excuses. We should have reminded you. Come on, let's go." Ron was the first to turn around and head towards the door.

The Trio left through the Portrait Hole, Harry pulling the Invisibility Cloak out of his pocket as he left. About a minute after they left, Ginny stepped out of the shadows of the spiral staircase, which she had very quietly come down after Hermione.

She felt bad double-crossing them all (especially Hermione, considering she had just helped her) but like Hermione said, she had to prove herself in Harry's eyes. Obviously, now that she had heard that conversation, this was something bigger than a stupid prank, something important.

The Marauders, Harry's dad, Prongs… it didn't make sense, but was that perhaps who she had duelled with? If she had heard right – and she was certain she had – then somehow Harry's Dad was alive again, by some terrible mistake.

She didn't have a clue what was going on. I But/I she thought, running out of the Portrait Hole fast enough that her red curls fanned out behind her, I I am definitely going to find out. /I


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Hey all, here's the next chapter! Happy halloween to anyone who celebrates it if I don't post before then. ) I don't know what it celebrates... but it's still fun! xD Enjoy, read&review, etc, etc. Suzi

Chapter 6

"It was so stupid – of course they were going to sneak out, I mean, they already had! And I know Sirius doesn't like taking orders, and I don't think my Dad is very different, especially from someone his age – his son, as well. From what I've heard, they liked to think they were in charge and didn't care what rules they were breaking. I've heard them being compared to Fred and George – but sort of Hermione's nightmare, since there's four of them. Well, actually, three… where was Pettigrew? As long as he isn't around - I might not be able to stop myself hexing him."

Harry stopped his whispered rant for a breath. They had, once again, made the same mistake – their eyes sought only the Marauders, none of them bothering to check on Ginny, since they all assumed her back in her Dormitory. Had they learned at all from their mistake, they would've noticed her following the whispers she heard from Harry. She listened very carefully, trying to glean some more information, but she had a feeling she'd have to find out the whole story at once; it'd be too confusing to piece together. All she could hear, that made any sense, was the names of everyone. And, of course, that the four of them, the Marauders, were Hermione's nightmare – but she already knew that much from having lived in Grimmauld Place for part of her Fourth-Year. She made sure to stay out of sight of where she thought they were.

"Where are they now? They keep moving." Harry said, mostly to himself. "Oh, there they are. It looks as though they're headed back to the Hospital Wing – she must've got him bad. I don't know how they think they can explain it, but I suppose they'll work something out." Harry closed his eyes momentarily, hoping the darkness would stop what he thought must be the building pressure of a looming headache. "It's just… I know that I can't say anything… but who would it hurt if I just said to make Sirius his secret-keeper? That's all, no explanation, just that." Harry added hurriedly as Hermione frowned painfully.

"I I know /I how much this means to you, and how much you could gain," Hermione said sympathetically, "but there are almost always unforeseen repercussions. Like in Third-Year, we were almost killed by a werewolf and you saw yourself and spent hours thinking your Dad was still alive, which I imagine was a big disappointment when you'd already got your hopes up.

"Now, we know, I think, that your mum only started going out with your dad after he 'deflated his head a bit', as Sirius put it. Basically, that means he stopped showing off as much and trying to impress her. However, if we told him that, in the end, they got married, he might take it upon himself to try and impress her again to get things started, meaning she'd see him as big-headed again and you wouldn't ever be born. If we don't let things run their natural course, everything could go wrong. If we tell them what should happen, they'll conflict things by trying to make what they want to happen happen, stop what they don't want to happen and change what should happen to suit them better."

There was a short pause after that slightly confusing but highly accurate explanation, during which Ron, Harry and Ginny wondered how Hermione thought of all of this, and Hermione despaired that they couldn't see the glaringly obvious.

I Have we got ourselves into something too big, this time/I Ginny wondered, I It involves the Marauders and that's just impossible. Two of them are dead, one is in the castle and the other is a traitor to Voldemort. So what's going on that involves them all, here and now/I

"Prongs!" Sirius and Remus cried as Ginny ran away. OK, so maybe chucking spells back at her wasn't the best approach, but it was self-defence! They had just gained the upper hand before she shot a spell and ran. Unfortunately, her aim was good, and it hit James square in the face. Their friend fell under the cloak, a thick goo running from his nose, quickly taking the shape of bats – large ones - which then started trying to attack his face and crashing into his face at a speed high enough to bruise.

Disgusting as it was, Sirius and Remus filed the spell away in their heads, watching with glee and horror – Sirius in hysterical laughter - as James's face was bruised severely, unable to think a way to stop the hilarious consequences of not listening to James's son. Perhaps they should have listened to the warning about Ginny's Bat-Bogey Hex – but that wouldn't be half as fun as this!

"Er – James? Can you hear me?" Remus said, with a large smirk on his face – one that anyone outside the Marauders rarely saw.

James mumbled something incomprehensible, trying and failing to bat away the creatures. Remus and Sirius took that to be a yes before Sirius burst into hysterical laughter.

"I think, maybe, we should probably have listened to Harry, Ron and Hermione about Ginny. She was kind of… ferocious, when she figured out you weren't Harry. And much too smart to be fooled by our rushed excuse." Remus pointed out.

James mumbled again, more urgently, apparently unable to speak – or perhaps he was just afraid to open his mouth properly. "Got – back – now," Despite the fact that no one could tell exactly what he was saying, they got the message from the urgent tone – they had to get back, now. They couldn't get caught outside of the Hospital Wing, by either teachers or another student. If they didn't, they would be facing more trouble than they had ever been in before – even worse than when they had almost killed Snivellus.

"Finite Incantatem," Remus said, pointing his wand at James's face. A few of the bats disappeared, but the spell was very strong – Ginny must have been [ivery[/i angry when she cast it. "Sirius, help me." He said with a smirk. Sirius, smirking also, pointed his wand at James and, together, they managed to overcome Ginny's anger and get rid of all of the bats.

"Now why couldn't you have done that about five minutes ago?" James asked moodily. Usually, he appreciated when a good prank was cast on one of the Marauders, and would try to beat that person with one of his own, but that hex had been nothing short of a declaration of war between James Potter and Ginny Weasley. He was more determined than ever to find out who she was...

"Well, we did find out something. Harry's going out with Ginny, but they've fallen out, by the looks of things. I don't see how it helps i us /i , but it's something…" James commented. Sirius pulled the map out of his pocket, whispered the words and scanned it as the ink spread out to form the Marauders' most proud possession.

"She's gone back to the Common Room. She's standing a little away from Harry, Ron and Hermione… oh wait, they're leaving. She must've told them – she's going with them, a little behind. I don't think Prongs here is too keen to see her again." He smirked. James wondered how long he was going to keep talking about it, deciding he'd have to engineer something to make him forget about it, "So come on. Harry will come looking for us – there's no way we can stop him from finding us if he's got a map, too, but where can we go that he won't be able to get us?" He wondered aloud.

"Well, there's no way we're going off the map, if that's what you're thinking…" Remus replied immediately, "We're in enough trouble as it is. I say we just go back to the Hospital Wing."

"Every single place in Hogwarts that we know of is on that map. No way will we be able to hide from him, especially if Remus – well, future Remus – is here. He probably knows more than we do." James added.

"Well…" All illusions of grand adventures evaporated. They couldn't hide, and Sirius had always been more of a fighter anyway. What was the point? "I suppose it's back to the Hospital Wing, then. Maybe Pete's woke up, by now." He added. They threw the cloak back over themselves and made their way back, checking the map constantly to see how far away their pursuers were. They got to the Hospital Wing a few minutes ahead of them to see that Peter had not yet awoken. Perhaps whatever medicine he'd been given to help him revive made you really sleepy? The Marauders had no answers, and instead just sat on the end of their beds, discussing what they were going to do before they were sent back home.

"You two both know something about your future; me and Pete don't know anything yet. It's our turn to do some sleuthing, when he wakes up." Sirius argued with his friends.

"But we don't know anything. All I know is that I have a son called Harry – I don't even know who his mum is!" James replied, a dreamy look going over his face. What had he found out about her so far? "Someone I already know, who's muggle-born and has green eyes…"

"James, we all know what you're thinking," Remus smirked, "And normally I'd say it isn't possible… but at this point, I don't think I have a right to say that anymore." He mused. Wasn't travelling 20 years into the future supposed to be near impossible, too? Wasn't magic supposed to be impossible, to Muggles? "You're the only one that can really say if you think it would ever happen."

"I don't know…" James sounded too serious to be James, for a moment. They weren't used to discussing things as deep as love and children. Not their own, anyway. "I don't think there's any way I can say for sure, unless we can somehow force it out of someone. Is there a spell or Potion that'll make them … I dunno… big-mouthed?" Do I really want to know right now? He added silently.

"Sorry to break things up," Harry said coolly, striding through the doors, "But I know that you three didn't come back here until just a few minutes ago. And don't bother denying it, I have a map, too, remember?"

"I wasn't going to deny it. I was just going to tell you that I didn't appreciate your girlfriend's wand work, and I'm going to embarrass you to death the first time I meet her in the future." James replied evilly, to Sirius and Remus's laughs. It was the only thing he could think of to say that he was sure no teenage boy would be happy about.

" i Ex /i -girlfriend, actually." Harry corrected, the small smile that had come at James's first comment faded away as a result. "I've got to say, I have no idea how you find things out so fast, but you'd better stop soon."

"Oh, so that's why you've left her outside." He ignored the second part of the sentence. "And here was me thinking you were trying to stop me from returning the favour."

"Left her-?" Harry glanced down at the map and groaned. Why did everything always happen to him? "Ginny, why couldn't you please, just once, do what you're supposed to?" He didn't bother to turn around, as she'd walked through the doors when her presence had been discovered, giving him as dirty a look as she could muster, with extra vigour because of the ex-girlfriend comment.

"Because I thought you knew me well enough by now to know that I don't need protected!" She replied hotly. She glared at James, then gasped as she noticed the other three occupants of the room. There was no mistaking them – apart from Wormtail, who she'd never actually seen properly. "Professor? S-Sirius?" Her eyes grew wider still as she realised it had been them under the cloak, firing spells at her. "OK, I want explanations, Potter, and I want them now!" She said angrily, turning to Harry. This had gone beyond a prank – it was hurtful to pretend dead people were here. It was sick.

Harry flinched slightly, knowing that it would not do him any good to get Ginny even angrier than she already was. He glared at the Marauders; it was all their fault. "I'll explain later, Gin. Just i please /i go back to the Common Room?" He said pleadingly. He was asking this time, instead of trying to tell her what to do – maybe then she'd be more willing to co-operate? It didn't have the desired effect.

"Harry, I don't need another brother! Don't you get it? All my life, all of my brothers have always tried their best to protect me. I appreciate it, but I'm not porcelain! I won't break at the slightest touch!" She didn't care who was there to hear her frustrated shouts, she just had to say what was on her mind. These thoughts had been haunting her since the funeral, and she'd tried not to say anything, not to interfere with what Harry was doing, but she just couldn't help it… "I don't need to be protected anymore. I can fight for myself." She added in a calmer tone, but it was evident that, by trying to protect her, he'd hurt her more than anyone else could.

She didn't like being shut out or guarded. She was the youngest of seven, the only girl, and wasn't a bad person… so why was it always her who was treated like a child, who would only get in the way? "I want to help."

James, Sirius and Remus felt slightly awkward being caught in the middle of this, and they couldn't help feeling at least partially responsible; judging by the look on Ron's face, he felt awkward too. Hermione just looked concerned that things had reached boiling point. Harry, on the other hand, had been caught off guard.

"Ginny…" He couldn't think of anything to say in reply until several seconds later, and he wasn't entirely sure that it was the right thing to say. He couldn't just say nothing, though, could he? "I know you can fight for yourself, but like I said in the DA, when Voldemort wants to kill you, there's only so much you can do." No one seemed to notice the Marauders' sudden attentiveness. "All my life, he's been after the people I love: my friends and family. If he found out about you, I just don't know what I'd do."

i Killed the people he loves/i James was severely alarmed by that comment, but tried not to show any emotion, in case he could glean anything else from the conversation. It didn't seem to be going in any direction he thought he'd like, though…

"He wants to kill you most of all, doesn't he?" Ginny replied, with a sort of sad fierceness. "You've escaped so many times, so narrowly… we just can't continue on the way we've been going, Harry, it's horrible!" She hesitated. She really didn't want to say what she was about to say, but she had to. It was her last resort, and the real reason for all the frostiness. "What – what if something did happen and we never got the chance to be together?" She asked, suddenly much quieter than usual.

She'd said everything she'd wanted to say, so, without giving him a chance to reply, she subsided to his request. She turned quickly and walked away at a brisk pace, on her way to the Common Room. All conversation disappeared around the corner with her, leaving the remaining people in the Hospital Wing in a minutes shocked silence.

"Well…" Sirius said, trying to think of something to break the awkward silence. "I believe you had a few choice words for us?" He said. It was unusual to ask to be told off, but anything was preferable over this. Harry stared blankly at the door for a second, before James said something, too.

"You-Know-Who is still around? Why's he killing your family and friends? Who's dead? Why does he want you most of all?" James had more questions, and was quickly realising why he wasn't supposed to know anything from the future. His whole outlook on life had just changed; if he was one of the people who was dead, now, then what was the point in continuing to live life? If he wasn't going to live more than 20 years… how could he live a proper, happy life? He was only 17, for Merlin's sake!

His questions had an impact on the room. Remus had obviously been thinking the same things as him, but hadn't wanted to say anything. Sirius had only been thinking about trying to restart a conversation, but they must've occurred to him too, since he didn't seem surprised. Ron and Hermione looked distressed; they'd been too caught up in Harry and Ginny's row to think about the Marauders. Harry closed his eyes in surrender to time and the way it was evidently against him.

"Why do you have to keep fishing for details? Curiosity is natural, this is just dangerous! Are you trying to change the past? Are you trying to make things worse?" Harry said in a quiet, deadly voice. He drew closer to his friends and said quietly, "Should I tell them the full story? I think it's more dangerous to leave them with random, fragmented details… Hermione, help me!" He added, knowing his intelligent friend knew a lot about time travel already, since Third-Year.

"Maybe… you should answer his questions… tell him about the prophecy… but don't tell him he'd dead. Things have already been altered in ways we probably can't imagine." Hermione whispered sadly. She was worried that the changes wouldn't be for the better. Harry turned back to his father.

"Voldemort went away for a while when I was a baby, because there was a Prophecy. It said I'm the only one who can beat him, so when he came back, he was after me, trying to kill me and get to me so that I wouldn't be able to defeat him." Harry said resignedly. "You and Mum escaped from him three times." He hoped that James would translate that as meaning that they were still alive.

James was silent for a minute. He'd escaped from Voldemort three times already? How could he be tied so closely to a mass-murderer? "I see." Was all he said. This was unreal. He was 17; already he had a child the same age as him, a psychotic mass-murderer out to get him, who he'd escaped from three times… and to top it all off, he'd already missed it all, found out it had happened, and now he was going to have to go back and live through it all. "Is there any way I can change it?" He asked, not daring to hope; he'd been kept in the dark about all the details up until now, so he didn't think he was going to be told anything else just now.

"There are several things that might work. I just don't know which one is the best one." Harry didn't want to talk anymore; it had been too much for him and he was emotionally exhausted. He didn't want to talk to his friends, his parent, the Marauders, but there was one person he did need to talk to right away.

"I need to talk to Ginny." He left without another word. After a few awkward seconds, Ron and Hermione left too, both wearing uneasy, sad smiles on their face. The double doors swung twice as they left, making a clanging sound. Remus got up and locked them with his wand. His bed creaked as he sat down. By his side, Peter stirred for a moment, then wearily opened his eyes. He immediately sat up.

"Where is he?" He squeaked, "Where'd he go? What – what happened?" He added, noting all of his friends' solemn looks. "Did I miss something?"

"Yes, Wormtail." Remus answered. "Everything. You missed everything."

He quietly proceeded to give him all of the details, leaving out nothing. It was a shock to all of the Marauders, even those who's been there to experience it. So much had happened, and they hadn't even been here a full day. Things hadn't turned out the way they had wanted them to, and James was beginning to doubt that they ever would again.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: OK, guys, so far I've been giving you almost-weekly updates, but the truth is, I'm one of the slowest writers on earth. I've caught up with the story now, so updates are probably going to REALLY slow down. I'm really sorry. Anyway, enjoy this chapter and remember to review! Suzi

Chapter 7

Harry walked alone the rest of the way back. Hermione and Ron took the hint and went downstairs for a walk in the grounds before it started to get dark. He was grateful that his friends were giving him the privacy he needed to talk to Ginny, especially Ron — he usually scrutinized everything they did or said, but Harry had a suspicion that he hated seeing her this unhappy so much that he'd even be willing to put up with her in a relationship to see that change.

It was awkward when he entered the Common Room. Ginny was sitting on her own, staring at the fire, probably thinking about what she'd said. _Does she regret saying anything?_ He wondered. If he had to guess, he'd say that she regretted distracting him… but not saying anything. She'd probably have just about burst if she stopped herself from saying anything any longer. He made his way over to her and sat next to her, still unsure of what to say. The whole Common Room was quiet — there weren't many people in, and those that were there were distracted by their own activities.

"Ginny…" he began, but still he didn't know what to say. Her speech in the hospital wing had left him speechless. His protective side wanted to deny everything she'd said and still try to protect her, no matter how much she hated it, but another side of him — the one that often spoke in Hermione's voice — told him that she was right, and they should get back together. While Hermione always knew what to do, his instincts had never let him down yet… but wasn't her 'voice' one of his instincts? Why were relationships so bloody complicated? She waited in a patient silence; she had already said everything she'd had to say.

"I'm really sorry. For everything," he finally managed to say. "I never wanted you to feel like this… for us to feel like this," he corrected. Ginny seemed to have a gift when it came to emotional speeches, but Harry was finding it hard to say what he thought. In fact, he didn't even know what he thought… except that he didn't want things to go on like this; he agreed with Ginny on that point.

"I never wanted things to end up like this… I didn't want you to feel like I was… like this…" He hoped she was getting the gist of what he was trying to say, because he'd never been good at wording all these mushy conversations, and wanted desperately to stop before getting into any more trouble. "I was only trying to help. I know He's hurt you before; I didn't want it to happen again. I just wanted you to be safe — I want everyone to be safe. But if anyone else close to me dies, I don't know how I'll ever have the strength to stop him." He sighed heavily.

"Harry, how am I supposed to help you stay strong if you push me away? Voldemort wants you more than anyone, and you've escaped every time. I've already escaped once before, what makes you think that you can't help me do it again? I can help , Harry! If you want me to prove it, I'll start small, like keeping a look-out, or being a distraction." She didn't repeat her last question in the Hospital Wing, but it kept pulsing through Harry's head as if he was being repeatedly hit by a Bludger. What if something _did_ happen, and he wasn't there to protect her? Or what if he died, and they never got the chance to be together? "No one's safe right now, no matter what you do. Pushing me away doesn't change the fact that I'm a Weasley; Ron's your best friend, and I'm a blood traitor. You aren't helping things, just making us both miserable."

"Well…" He was convinced, now, that she was right, but he didn't know what to do now. She must have some kind of plan what happened now, if she'd been thinking like this since coming back to Hogwarts. "Where do we go from here?"

"You'll let me help?" She brightened up immediately, like a child at Christmas. Like happy Ginny, from before he'd broken up with her. Actually, he hadn't realised just how down she'd been, but in comparison to her mood now, it scared him how depressed she'd been. Seeing her like this made his stomach bubble happily — a feeling he'd last year have described as 'a beast inside him'. This beast would have thrown a party when, without warning, she rushed forward to kiss him.

It was unexpected, but after a shocked second, Harry began to kiss her back. It was like a second first kiss; so wonderful and just… right.

"Ahem," came a voice from behind them, "If you two are finished 'talking', we've got a few problems that need dealt with." They broke apart, a little flushed, and turned to see an awkward-looking Ron. Harry didn't particularly care how awkward Ron was; relief and happiness had washed over him, as if Ginny had transferred the feelings to him through the kiss. It was a rather uplifting feeling — Harry couldn't possibly imagine what the bigger problem was; at that moment, even Voldemort was more of an annoyance than a problem.

"In case you've forgotten," Ron ploughed on, "There are four people downstairs who we have to keep hidden from everyone else, while keeping them from finding out anything about anything. That includes us letting anything slip, which has happened several times already, and they've only been here a few hours."

"Alright… Ginny, c'mon." He took her hand and she followed, causing a look of shock and confusion on Ron's face.

"Harry, she already knows too much, we can't let her know anymore, or we might as well tell her about the You-Know-Whats!" he whispered, eyeing her warily. She just smirked back, knowing that she and Harry were back together, and she was allowed to help. Obviously, he was going to tell her everything.

"Ron, I can't keep secrets from her, it might hurt her more than it'll help her. This way she'll be on her guard against… well, whatever might happen. I'm going to tell her everything," he replied, whispering too. He still had reservations about whether he should tell people they were back together… it might put her in more danger, even if she was in danger anyway. But there was no point in their misery; it didn't change anything.

Hermione sat by the fire, a small smile playing across her lips at the sight of Harry and Ginny. She knew that neither of them had wanted to break up, and thought it was rather stupid that they had, when they both wanted to be together so much. It was a pointless ordeal.

"I'm all for sitting down and talking," Harry said when they reached Hermione, "but not here. Somewhere more private." With nods of agreement and curiosity from Ron and Hermione, his friends followed him through the Portrait Hole and along a corridor. He failed to notice that he was still holding Ginny's hand, but if he had, he wouldn't have wanted to let go, anyway, despite his 'reservations. No matter how he felt, he didn't want to let her go for fear of losing her again.

They arrived at the familiar corridor which they had visited so much in his fifth-Year. He walked past the blank stretch of wall three times. _We need somewhere comfortable and secret, where we can talk privately for as long as we need to without anyone hearing us._ He thought with his eyes closed firmly. He knew you had to be specific with the Room, so he added, _With something to eat and drink._ It was almost dinner, after all, and this could take a while, since Ginny was starting from scratch. In fact, there was probably a few things he hadn't fully explained to Hermione and Ron yet, as well, like the night of Dumbledore's death. Tonight, he wasn't going to hold back any details.

They entered the room and sat down in what looked extraordinarily like the Gryffindor Common Room, except for the small coffee table with biscuits and a selection of drinks. The chairs were arranged so that Ginny, Ron and Hermione were all facing Harry. The room was very warm, though Harry couldn't see a fire.

"OK," he said, feeling slightly self-conscious, as if he was about to give a public speech or something. "Well, as you two can probably tell, I've decided that it's too dangerous to keep Ginny in the dark. Hopefully you'll agree with my decision and won't oppose it or try to stop me. Anyway, there are things that you two still don't know everything about, as well, so I'm going to start from the very beginning and tell you everything. There'll be stuff you already know, but it's important, so don't interrupt unless I miss something." He sounded very formal as he said it, even he noticed, but it wasn't the easiest subject to discuss over juice and biscuits. How did you break it to your girlfriend that you were about to go off hunting pieces of evil soul? That there was a prophecy saying you were the only one who could finish the job? Or that you'd stood by while your Headmaster - the smartest, most powerful wizard in the world - begged you to kill him? Was there really an easy way to say what he was about to?

"S o he's your son? And Moony's a teacher? And Harry's family and friends are a target for You-Know-Who? And he says the name?" Peter's eyes were as large as saucers as he blurted out all the questions that were in his friends minds too.

"Wormtail, we've told you everything we know! I just wish I know why he's the only one who can beat Him… why him? Why me? Why _her_, whoever she is? And why have we had to escape from him three times already?" James said, bringing his hand down with a thump onto his bedcovers. It didn't ease his frustration. "How can we find out what's going on? I can't sit here not knowing!"

It was almost unbearable, being kept in the dark, with so many questions. The few answers he had been given — mostly by accident — had only evoked double the questions, and now he was back to square one. Well, actually, it was more like square negative five or something. He felt physically and emotionally drained, as if it was early morning and he hadn't slept, but it wasn't even dinner yet. He thought back to the questions he had asked, wondering if he'd received satisfactory answers.

_"You-Know-Who is still around? Why's he killing your family and friends? Who's dead? Why does he want you most of all?"_

All Harry had said was some stuff about a prophecy that said only he could defeat Him… James decided he'd answered all of those questions but one. He hadn't said who was dead — only that he wasn't. What about Sirius and Peter? And all his other friends he might've made after school? And still, the most important unanswered question; who was his mum? Were they married, or split up? No, James wouldn't do something like that… they must be married. His parents were very traditional, and they'd kill him if he had a baby in a non-committed relationship. Maybe they'd even make him get married, first.

"I know it's hard, Prongs," Remus said gently, "but I really don't think there's anything we can do. I can't believe he actually told us that in the first place... it's very dangerous. I think we should just forget about it and do our best to avoid people until they can get us back home."

"Or maybe we can do it!" Sirius cut in. "We got ourselves here, maybe we can get ourselves back! We could just nick a few books from the library and read up on reversing spells or something and no one would notice if we were quick getting back here!"

"We can't go yet!" Peter exclaimed, "We need to find out more about Harry, and we still don't know anything about ourselves!"

"Well, the only people who can tell us about you are Harry and Moony — Professor Lupin, that is," James smirked a little, "and the only person who can answer all of my questions is Harry. I don't think that Moony will answer us, since he's a professor, but maybe we can trick some more out of Harry." _My son. I'm spying on my own son._ It made him feel incredibly guilty, but it wasn't really his son, since he didn't have one yet. He was actually some random boy who had all the answers he wanted, and he didn't know him very well. No reason to feel guilty.

Remus saw the glint in their eyes — all of them — and knew there was no way of talking his friends out of their plans. He also knew it wouldn't lead anywhere he particularly wanted to be, and would have a hard time getting out of. However, someone had to go along with his friends to help them out — of not, they'd end up killing themselves. He held up his hands in surrender.

"OK, I know you all really want to do this, so I'm not going to try and stop you. Make sure you're careful, though, you might not like what you find." He directed the last part specifically to James, since he was planning to try and find out details about himself now. Peter had said he wanted to find out about himself and Sirius, too, but they didn't have any starting points or anything like that. What James was getting into was dangerous business.

With Remus's seal of approval, James whipped out the map and turned it on. He scanned it for several minutes, a frown creasing his forehead. After another quick search, he looked up at his friends.

"Come help me, I can't find him!"

"…And he just escaped through the gates. I sat and watched while he ran through!" Harry's tone was heavy with frustration and sorrow. His whole story had been wreaked with similar emotions, from him and his three friends. Gasps of horror had been too frequent for one story, and all of his friends looked solemn. Ron was looking down, Hermione had tears in her eyes, and Ginny was shaking slightly.

_He dumped me to go looking for Voldemort's soul, and I've been treating him like Mrs Norris!_ Even after hearing the whole story, she didn't think she'd ever be able to fully appreciate what it had been like for Harry, not just in the past few weeks, but for the past few years. He'd been burdened by this huge responsibility — and it was his to bear alone — and she'd been worrying about 'relationship problems'. _But we won't let him bear it alone._ The fierce looks from his friends told her they felt the same.

While Ron and Hermione had already known most of what he'd said, hearing it all at one time must've put it in perspective for them, since they were taking the news just as Ginny was. Their faith in their friendship had never been stronger, and everyone in the room vowed there and then to always stand by each other. Nothing was said about it aloud, but there was an understanding that, after sharing so much together, they could never be torn apart. Harry and Ginny's happy Common Room moment wasn't quite forgotten, but it was as if it had happened months ago; they'd already moved on from it, as it would be one of many.

"And now this has happened," Harry continued, aware of the thoughts of his closest friends, "And I just don't know what to do know. They've already found out so much, just by getting me angry or emotional. They know all about the Prophecy and that Voldemort's after my family and friends. I wouldn't be surprised if Remus figured out that I didn't confirm if my dad was dead or alive." He paused for a second before adding, "I'm scared that this is going to change everything. What if I let slip my mum's name? What havoc could that wreak on my life? I might not even exist…"

"We'll help you, Harry." Hermione said gently, the two Weasleys nodding in agreement. "I know it might not be the best solution, but — but maybe we could Obliviate them? Just before they go back? So they don't remember anything…"

Harry hated the idea of doing that to his dad and Sirius, especially since it felt like a betrayal to him, and he'd never get the chance to redeem himself… but did he have any other choice?

"I-" He'd been going to say that he didn't know, but he changed his mind halfway through the sentence. "I'll think about it. For the time being… it looks as if we're going to have to contain them ourselves."

They all agreed silently — they seemed to be doing that a lot — and left the Room of Requirement, discussing plans as to how they were going to keep the Marauders locked up. Harry's thoughts were:

_We could really use Fred and George about now._

James's eyes scanned the Seventh Floor, starting at the Common Room and leading away. His eyes skimmed across a corridor, until a flashing of ink appeared there. He looked back to see Ginny, Harry, Ron and Hermione's names materialising out of nowhere. _They weren't there before._

"Hey, I found them! But they just… appeared there. I thought you can't apparate into Hogwarts?" James knew that you couldn't, since Dumbledore had placed many protections against it, he'd been told. "Where did they come from?" The rest of the Marauders, having looked over the map several times themselves, were also puzzled. "They appeared close to that wall… d'you think there's a room we've not got or something?" The idea seemed absurd, but it was the only thing he could think of that fitted.

"I dunno. Maybe you should go ask Ginny?" Sirius suggested with a smirk.

"Shut up." James snapped. "She could hex you twice as hard. In fact, I bet she was holding back 'cause I look like Harry. She'd have murdered you."

"No, Prongs, because girls just don't hex me."

"They just slap you."

"That was — er… six? - times! Six times in seventeen years is pretty good."

"Er- back to the subject?" Peter cut in.

The Marauders all stared at the map. They'd found them already, but they still didn't know how they were going to trick some information out of the four students. It would have to be carefully planned, but that wasn't a problem. The Marauders would be in their element. It was harder, however, when you didn't know what you were planning for — what did they specifically want to find out?

"Well, if you all still don't know what you want to do," Remus said, "then maybe we should go and explore this room that they came out of. It could give us clues, and we should probably add it to the map, too." He suggested, hoping to postpone the interrogations. He knew it would be too dangerous, but there wasn't anything he could do to convince the other Marauders of that fact, meaning he had to look for alternatives. Maybe he could find a way to warn whoever they were going to trick? That said, although he wanted to stall, he had to admit he himself was curious about the 'unknown room'.

The Marauders assembled under James's cloak, following the map to the spot on the Seventh-Floor, all the while trying to think of ways to get more information. James was quickly getting obsessed with his future — it wasn't a want anymore, more of a _need_. If he didn't find something out soon, this could become unhealthy…

They arrived at the spot. On one side of the corridor was a bizarre tapestry, on the other side was a wooden door. It seemed out of place, and each of the Marauders was certain that it hadn't been there before — 20 years before, that is. They entered the room nervously, closing it firmly behind them. Familiar faces blinked at them from news paper clippings and book covers.

James's mouth fell open. "It — it's a room about Harry and us!"


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Hey everyone! I know it's been a long time since I updated, but I had a bit f writer's block, life snuck up on me, and I have to admit I forgot about this for a while. I struggled with this chapter, and I feel like it was very careless of the trio, but hopefully the many 'anger' hints will make up for that. Review, review, review! Please? And happy new year, everyone! Suzi

**Chapter 8**

He'd thought about it long and hard, and as much as he knew it was the best option, he just wouldn't be able to do it. There was just no way Harry Potter could stand by when his near-enough-family were getting obliviated. - it was worse than doing it himself. Of course, he'd obliviate, stun or otherwise injure Pettigrew if it was in any way necessary (or if he could find as way to make it look as if it was), but the others weren't like him… James was his father, Sirius his godfather and Remus the last Marauder, his teacher, still alive, one of his dad's best friends and the last connection he had to his parents. They all meant a lot to him, and he wouldn't be able to do anything to hurt them. Dumbledore had said that love was his 'power that the Dark Lord knew not' but so far, all it had done was get him into trouble and make the losses hurt more. Was his power against Voldemort being able to feel pain over others and having to always worry about others? To him, it didn't seem like there was much he could do with that 'power' - it was more of a handicap, but one which he could not live without.

_He always had to be so cryptic, thinking he'd be able to explain it later. Couldn't he have learned from leaving the Prophecy so late? He should've explained everything instead of leaving us to piece it all together. It's happened every year, why couldn't he have made things easy for once? Of course, it's not like he knew he was going to die, I can't really blame him..._

Harry's thoughts of Dumbledore weren't helping his situation, just making him more confused and upset. Why _hadn't_ Dumbledore ever explained his supposed 'power' properly? Why couldn't he just have made things easier and told him everything at once? He wasn't sure that he'd be able to do things on his own, even with Ron and Hermione by his side. Did three seventeen year old school children really think they could stop the most evil wizard of their time? Put like that, it didn't seem probable, no matter how many times they had done it before.

* * *

"Lily? Me and Lily?! In Seventh-Year?! That's this year, guys, this year!" James jumped up and down like a two year old, but gradually slowed, a frown appearing on his face. "A prophecy - he told us about that - everything is tying in, but…" he stopped abruptly, sitting in a convenient chair which seemed to have popped up behind him. His face had gone pale - he'd just stumbled across a detail that didn't fit in at all.

"It's - it's a set up! It has to be," Peter squeaked, his eyes wide and disbelieving as they raked over a piece of parchment faster than they ever had any school textbook. "It can't be true - read on, it talks about surviving a killing curse; it's impossible!"

The Marauders hadn't been in the Room of Requirement long, but they had devoured the imformation it held as if their lives depended on it - which, they would soon realise, might actually be true. They had trouble believeing it all, especially what seemed to start all of the 'events'; Peter's betrayal and Harry's survival on that fateful Halloween night (an uncanny coincidince, since Halloween was the night they had arrived) and, though they had to wonder why there was a shrine in their honour, the fact that Harry and his friends had been in there not too long ago made it seem very suspicious.

"But they couldn't have gotten all this ready in time - it's too elaborate, and all this just to throw us off? Why bother? Dumbledore could no doubt think of something much simpler and more believable." Remus argued, but his voice was full of doubt. How could anyone believe the dragon dung he was defending? Although there _was_ reason in his argument…

"Moony, have you read this?!" Peter proffered the parchment he had been peering at so keenly. "Me! A traitor! You three know that would never happen, not after everything, all the years at Hogwarts, the animgus training…"

The other three - though they were still doubtful - seemed to have edged ever so slightly away from Peter as they read. He didn't notice, but Remus did, and he knew that he wasn't the only one who was starting to believe that maybe - just maybe - it might all be possible. After all, who could ever doubt magic?

"Calm down, Wormtail," Remus said soothingly, "I'm sure there's some sort of mistake. Maybe we should keep reading and find out what else has happened?"

They did as suggested by unspoken consent. Each of the Marauders had different versions of events, focusing on their own lives, but with the same essential details - Remus's was a book; Sirius and James had a muggle-style commentary video, except it was much faster, easier to understand and better quality; and Peter had a muggle audio tape with commentary notes. All of the information was in third-person, and, as happens in the Room of Requirement, was much faster than it could possibly have been outside of the room. In under an hour, they knew pratically everything about their lives to come, and Harry's - and they didn't like it one bit.

"It can't be true... what are the chances of us just stumbling accross a room like this right when we want one? One that those three just _happen_ to have come out of not long ago? That has been built in the last 20 years?" Peter said, anger and hurt in his voice. Typical - he was always the weak link, the target. He was just as strong as any of them, even if he didn't look it. He'd rather die than let down his friends, and this thought was reinforced when they all nodded firmly with him. How could he know that they were all hidding doubts?

_It could all fit... it's too elaborate to be made up on the spot, even by Dumbledore,_ Remus was more confused than he'd ever been, and he didn't like it at all. No, he wasn't disturbed because he didn't know what was happening - although that did disturb him, sincce it would be very handy, he guess - it was more the fact that, if looked at from a point of vuew that was unbiased by friendship and securities... well, it wasn't exactly impossible. _And I'm not about to say that to a potential Death-Eater._

James and Sirius, usually faithful until the end, were having similar thoughts. It did seem to fit... it even told them when he had turned on them.

_Peter was bored. Since they had left school several months ago, what with work and things, the Marauders seemed to have less time to spend together._

_**No, not the Marauders,** he thought bitterly, **Everyone else still finds convenient excuses to hang out without me... work and Order stuff my arse. It;s obvioius they don't want me around... why don't they just say something?**_

_Peter had always been insecure, sort of a tag along, and he knew it. How fabulous it had been for him when the Marauders had appeared out of the blue and taken him in... it waas undescribable. But why did he feel like he was loosing it now? Just because he wasn't speanding every second with them didn't mean he wasn't wanted anymore. He was as independant and happy as any of them... maybe if he showed it, they'd invite him along a little more often._

_**Stop it,** he told himself firmly, **You're taking perfectly innocent situations and twisting them. You're afraid you'll loose them to the war, not in friendship.**_

_And there it was again. The bloody war._

_Everyone was obsessed with it in the Order, but they were all blind. Couldn't they see that they were losing? Couldn't they see how rapidly their side was dimminishing? It was just a matter of time before someone especially close to him was hurt. What would he do if he lost Remus, Sirius or James?_

_**I'd live on - I'd have to. Obviously, they don't care about me, anymore, why should I care about them? I should protect myself while I still can.**_

_Peter was beyond horrified that he could even think such a thing. What scared him even more was the fact that he couldn't push the thought away..._

Peter's traitorous thoughts had escalated until, just weeks after his 'revelation', he'd been approached by a recruiting Death Eater. Combined with his fear of angering a Death Eater, the thought of protecting himself in the war overall had become unbearable. It was inevitable that he said 'Yes', but his own answer scared and confused him more than anyone. The insecure little man had grown into the cruel criminal that Harry, Ron and Hermione knew.

"But it doesn't mention the time travelling once..." Sirius pointed out, though it was more like thinking aloud. It just didn't make sense... if it was a true account, it would've mentioned it, but if it was a made-up account, then whoever made it up (presumably Dumbledore) wouldn't have been so stupid as to forget it or leave it out.

"We changed it. We changed history, and now _everything's_ going to change just because we were fucking curious!" Remus flushed angrily; he rarely got this angry, but when he did, he couldn't stop himself; the werewolf part of him kicked in and caused as furious an outburst as a human could - he more than rivaled the Weasley/red-head temper. At these times, his friends knew to always back down and be very wary of his wand. "Why couldn't we just have stayed put in the bloody hospital for once? We knew it was dangerous, we knew it was stupid, but we still had to go wandering and ask every question we could think of... and now all this is going to change! When we get back - if we ever bloody well do - we're going to know all this and change it! This place won't exist... I might not be a teacher... James might not get together with Lily... Sirius might not break out..." His fear was clouding his anger now... time had spun out of control, but nothing had changed... yet.

"You- you're speaking as if this is all true..." Peter voice shook slightly. He couldn't believe his friends were turning on him, especially since he had just vowed to himself that he would never turn on them. "What's wrong with you all? How can we even be sure that this place is real? Maybe we're delerious from magical exhaustion from that spell. It's just all not possible!"

"I-I'm sorry, Wormtail. I never meant to say it like that... I'm just trying to fill in the blanks of this story, figure out what's going on... it just fits too well."

A powerful, anger-fuelled Stunner shot accross the room.

* * *

"Well, they obviously have the Cloak and the Map, too, so we can't hide from them. What I'm worried about is how we can keep watch over them when we're in classes and everything..." Hermione said, looking as if she was deep in thought, but feeling as if she was missing something important. She leaned back on her crimson chair, having once again bagged the favourite chairs in the Common Room. The Seventh-Years (plus Ginny, this time) seemed to have claimed the by-the-fire location, and it suited them perfectly; not only because of the warmth of the fireplace, but as strange as it may seem, the middle of the Common Room was the perfect place for a private conversation. It was slightly isolated from the rest of the seating, since it was all situated around them, and anyone close enough wouldn't hear a word in all the activity - the _Muffliato_ was just a precaution.

"_No way_ am I handing either over to any of the teachers, 'Mione, not even Professor Lupin. You know I wouldn't get them back, and he's busy with classes too." Harry replied, anger still coursing through his veins. _Stay calm, no good will come out of snapping at your friends, they're trying to help..._ Of course, the fact that he'd reconciled with Ginny and now didn't have to worry about snapping at her helped, even if she was looking a bit confused; he'd forgotten that she didn't know about the Cloak or the Map. He had to wonder if she was actually understanding everything that happened, or if it was all too much for her to take in at once. Admittedly, it was all very complex, and might seem farfetched to an outsider - but Ginny was a Weasley, hardly an outsider to the war or strange magic. Maybe, with him being so close to the Weasleys, Ginny was used to this strange sort of thing.

"I know, Harry, I just feel as if we've missed something important... something really stupid... you know the feeling when you leave for school and forget to lock the door? It annoys you all day, but you just can't remember what you've forgotten." Harry couldn't say that he did, since the Dursleys had never trusted him enough to give him a key to their house, but at that moment, a very different revelation hit him, like a bludger in the dark. In their hour or so of discussion, it had taken Hermione's comment to trigger his memory. In his anger at the Marauders, he'd just stormed away from the hospital, without thinking...

"Merlin! We forgot to lock the bloody door!"

Before he had finished saying the word 'door', he was already well on his way to the Portrait Hole, with his friends hot on his tail. He pulled out the map as he went, scanning it quickly. By the time he had reached a nearby and conveniently deserted Seventh-Floor corridor, he had scanned the map three times without finding them. He stopped so abruptly that Ginny ran into him, just soon enough that Ron and Hermione had time to stop without further injury.

"I can't find them, help me!" It didn't take much prompting for them to crowd around him, all scanning the map, Ginny murmuring wonderously. For one intense minute they all stared at the enchanted parchment, dissecting each of the school's floors with their eyes. All four of them confirmed that the Marauders were nowhere to be found.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no..." Harry repeated under his breath. In his anger, he'd been careless. How could he have let this happen? How could he trust himself not to let it happen again? Not just with the Marauders, but with the Horcruxes, or the Prophecy, or any of the other important war-related secrets that were - well, basically, his only weapon against Voldemort, and the Wizarding World's only chance against Voldemort. _One thing at a time - Marauders first._ "You don't think they've gone to Hogsmeade, do you?" He asked his friends opinions dispairingly.

"No, no, that doesn't make sense. They were too curious about you, and themselves. They'll have stayed around to try and figure out more... maybe even followed us. _We can't hide from them_..." she repeated her earlier comment. "They've followed us to the Room of Requirement." She stated, heading off in that direction. It all seemed so obvious now. "We are going to have to be so much more careful... oh no, what do they 'need'? A way back, maybe?"

"At the minute, I don't care, as long as we get them back where they can't do any damage." Harry replied, as grimly as anyone can when they are running as fast as they can through corridors, without any regard for any other students. since they weren't showing any regard, it didn't take them long to get there, and Harry's fears and dispair had all burnt into fury at the Marauders, and himself. Wouldn't any of them even learn? He opened the door to see that he wasn't the only one who was angry. Wormtail was shouting at the rest of the Marauders, telling them how what was happening wasn't possible. _I wish._ Quickly and without hesitation, Harry drew his want and sent a stunner towards Wormtail. He hadn't exactly intended to look intimidating, but in a place you don't know - or perhaps a time - a powerful wizard framed in a doorway shooting powerful spells into the room isn't the happiest thing you can think of. The obvious anger of him and the three Gryffindors behind him added to the atmosphere.

"What is in here?" Harry asked quietly, in a tone that suggested hexes all around if he didn't like what he heard. Ron, Hermione and Ginny moved into the room, Ginny slightly more tentatively than the other two, still feeling slightly out of place. They looked around and started examining the various objects, trying to answer Harry's question for themselves.

The Marauders remained silent; angry, confused and numerous other emotions that they couldn't indentify among the rest.

"It's all stuff about them, Harry," came Ron's voice. Harry didn't look at him, keeping his eyes on the three concious Marauders. "Their lives, and everything... and stuff about the Prophecy, as well, and the war."

"How much do you know?" Harry hardly dared to hope, a miniscule hope that they didn't know much, that they hadn't gotten far into the information; perhaps they had only just gotten here, and besides, it would take ages to get through everything. They can't have gotten up to the Prophecy... or Wormtail. This hope burst even before a little voice asked him, _Are you forgetting this is the Room Of Requirement? The Marauders?_

"Everything..." Remus finally replied hoarsly. "Lily, James, Peter, Sirius and I... and you too. Now we now what you meant in the Hospital Wing..."

"Everything?" Harry repeated. It couldn't be possible, it wasn't... but he knew it was, there was no point in denying it. And yet again, it had to be him that all of this happened to. "Get back to the Hospital Wing... now. Don't detour. Go under the cloak, too. Take Wormtail. Don't tell anyone that you know anything; especially not Professor Lupin or the Headmistress." He needed to think about what he was going to do now, before he told any of the teachers what had happened. In his experience of teachers, it was usually Dumbledore he went to. Now he was really going to see how he would do without him.

"Merlin, Headmistress..." James whispered. They had all been so caught up in personal affairs that none of them had really taken on board Harry's most recent adventure. Dumbledore was gone... how the hell were they going to get back? "He's really gone?" Harry didn't bother to comfirm it; the answer was obvious from the expression on his face, as well as that of Ron, Hermione and Ginny.

They all went back to the Hospital Wing, four under each cloak (it would seem strange if Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny were seen going back and forth to the Infirmary) and Hermione performed a firm locking spell on the door, one which she was confident none of the Marauders would be able to break, but she didn't really think they'd bother to try, anyway. The remaining four Gryffindors went back to their spot in the Common Room, pulling their chairs even closer together and casting the usual privacy charms.

"Alright," Ginny began, since she was starting to feel a bit more included now that she was sure she had all the details, "they obviously know too much. We can't send them back like this, if we can send them back at all."

"There's so much we need to do, but we don't know how. So what do we try first?" Hermione added.

"I don't want to Obliviate them." Harry replied gravely after a short silence. "Dumbledore said my 'gift he knows not' is love, and I can't let that happen to someone I love."

"Well..." Ron paused, unsure of his idea, "now that they already know everything, and there can't be any more danger by telling them things... can't we get them to help?"


	9. Update & Authors Notes

Update: OK, Collision Course is officially ABANDONED. I lost the muse completely. I tried to continue it, honestly, but it's just not working for me anymore. Sorry, guys! I definately learned my lesson about finishing stories before posting them. If anyone is interested in continuing it, please email me!

I hope you guys understand. /


End file.
